Low Light
by Dragonrider4000
Summary: In which L's unrequited love for Light has unexpected consequences for all. What will Light do when he realises L's true feelings? How will the world cope with an evil L? Strictly AU post episode 24. LxLight
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note as is probably noticable by the distinct AU of this story.

A/N; Beta'd most wonderfuly by Virtualdraconium. Thank you for continuing your most awesome assistance in my grammar woes. No hidding comma was safe from your red pen!

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**The World Turns and the Universe Twists **

L sat watching the monitors in front of him impassively, the biggest image showed Light and Misa arguing. Light was trying to desperately to calm Misa down from whatever had upset her this time, but his voice was drowned out by her loud screeching. L glanced towards the shinigami, for some reason she was staring at the screen open mouthed her gaze flitting between Misa and Light, as she noticed him she hastily turned away from the screen. The likelihood of the two arguing people being guilty rose in L's mind.

L sighed and pushed away from the desk, the swivel chair gliding over the smooth floor turning slightly. An action he never would have attempted if the task force were present, he was sure Matsuda would have chosen that point to stand, and therefore end up in his way. With expert timing one of L's feet momentarily descended and stopped his travel as he neared the evidence table. He picked up the Death Note and flicked through the pages, looking once more for blemishes and tears that would hint at false rules. He so desperately wanted to test the thirteen day rule, it was surely the only logical action at this point. Part of him twisted at the thought of proving Light to be Kira as L knew him to be.

His head shot up as the Shinigami abruptly exited the room, her face grim as she glanced back at the screen. L followed her gaze. Yes, she was definitely focused on Misa. All the pieces clicked into place, Rem used to be the shinigami for the note Misa once owned, Misa had definitely been the second Kira. There could be no doubt, so as this Shinigami was attached to this notebook, there must be another following the other around. If the killings were continuing then Misa had therefore another notebook in her possession. Perhaps the original Kira's? Something she could only have gained with close cooperation with Kira, who could only be Yagami Light. His thoughts continued, quickly filling in all the gaps from the information he already had, Light was even more devious than L could have guessed. What surprised him though was how this just increased his respect for Light, this plan was incredibly logical and covered all possibilities, particularly all aspects involving said thinkers death. L sat there running through contingency plans on how to win this new situation, thanks to the shinigami's reaction to the argument he now had a way out, a way to win. Now all he needed was time.

L scooted back over to the cameras, interested in seeing if the argument continued. As it was he decided to concentrate on what they were saying.

…

Meanwhile, Rem was having the most shocking and eye-opening experience of her life, she had never seen Misa like this. Not in all her time keeping Jealous company at the viewing portal. She was screaming at Light, who was actually backing away from her and… Rem stared, Light looked frightened, truly frightened of Misa. She focused on their words trying to understand.

"I saw you staring at the other girls while we were out," Misa screeched, "How could you? Do you not care about me at all?" At this she slapped Light.

"Misa, you know I couldn't do something like that," Light said making his voice whiny as his hand came up to his cheek, he had to appease Misa, _and anyway_ he thought _I am gay,_ _and madly in love with a guy_ _who wants me dead,_ his treacherous mind added. She was still glaring at him, he saw, probably waiting for him to continue digging his death. Then he finally saw Rem. He stiffened, this situation was going from bad to worse.

"I saw you," Misa said gritting her teeth, her eyes going cold. Rem stiffened as she saw this, now she was entirely certain. The Misa she had once known was gone, now all that was left was this vicious, jealous woman with an unhealthy obsession for a man who, Rem now saw, was merely trying to deal with Misa in a way that would cause Misa the least harm while he himself suffered.

"Misa, if I looked, which I honestly do not remember doing, it was only because they were gazing at you with envy or shock. You are a very famous woman after all," Light said this carefully looking back over her shoulder slightly at Rem, if Misa hadn't shaken him roughly for looking away from him he would have laughed for joy; Rem had looked horrified by Misa and had been looking at _him_ with sympathy. Perhaps he had a chance to escape this increasing torture. He reached up and forcibly took Misa's hands off his shoulders as his gaze turned away from the shinigami who had exited the room.

"I can't do this anymore," Light sighed, straightening up. Misa was looking at him stunned.

"Misa, I do not love you, in fact in the past few days I have come to hate you. You are whiny and you have the IQ range of a chair. I would not date you if you were the last person on the planet. And for your information, I was looking at their boyfriends not them. I. Am. Gay." With that Light turned and excited the room finally feeling just slightly free. His feet moved him in the one direction they knew, towards L.

…

Up in the investigation room there was the sound of breaking china as L dropped his tea. Light was gay? Perhaps L had a chance with him after all… He shook his head; that was clumsy and irrational thinking that would only lead to his own death… Light was gay… L felt his heart beat speed up. Steadfastly he picked up his pen and continued the notes on the rules in the note he was making to send back to Wammy's house for safety.

He looked up sharply and the sudden noise from where Misa had been stood. She was rummaging around in her bag looking for something.

"If I can't have him, no one can." Misa's voice came through loud and clear over the sound system in the room. L's lightening thinking gave him the answer almost instantly, she was going to kill Light with the other Death Note. L moved without thinking, the pen was in his hand and the Death Note was already open so he could copy the rules accurately. In an instant Misa's name adorned the front page of the Death Note and her fate was sealed. Almost at the same time as he wrote her name L came back to his senses.

What.

Had.

He.

Done?

…

Light entered the investigation room his gaze falling on L, who was sat immobile a pen in one hand Misa in large on the screen in front of him. What was the detective doing? Then the pen fell from L's hand and he began to shake slightly.

Light's gaze suddenly shifted up to Misa, she had pulled the Death Note out of her bag, Light gasped involuntarily the idiot had brought it with her?! She had an evil glint in her eye and Light suddenly felt cold, he moved closer to L and could suddenly hear a low muttering from the detective.

"31, 32, 33, 34…"

Light gasped and saw the Death Note open before L. He glanced at L's face and saw the twisted and pained expression on the man's face; he didn't appear to have registered Light's appearance.

"40."

Light's face shot to face Misa and watched as she constricted her hand clutching her chest gasping as she tried to draw breath before collapsing to the floor. What she had written in the Death note becoming visible to the camera.. Light Yaga..

Light nearly collapsed to the floor, he had come so close to death, he, _Kira,_ had nearly died because of some stupid little chit of a girl. Then, an even more striking thought struck him; L had killed Misa to save him, using the Death Note. He began to laugh, his visage finally turning into the one he had kept hidden for so long.

Next to him L turned slightly and tried to throw up over the side of the chair. Instantly Light was next to him, and shifted the detective onto his lap his fingers carding into the man's hair. At his touch the detective flinched and tried to pull away.

"You are Kira," L said quietly looking up at Light, his thoughts thrown into turmoil, the effects of the Death Note already reaching into his mind. Light didn't answer, he knew that there was no longer any point denying it, and just pulled L closer until he could whisper into his ear.

"Thank you," Light whispered into L's ear and winced slightly as L flinched in his arms.

"Let me go Kira," L said suddenly. Sighing Light released L, who shot up and jerkily backed away gasping as his back collided with the desk behind him.

Through his bangs he saw Light reach out to him in concern, a reaction his befuddled brain still informed him was not a faked one. His hand skimmed along the desk as he sought to correct his balance and the Death Note clattered to the floor in front of him, the pen landing neatly between the pages. He let out a small sob, he had become the criminal. _Him_, **the** greatest detective, the defender of justice had killed on a _whim_. His hand came up to his mouth as he let out a wail that broke Light's heart. Then L dove towards the Death Note.

"No!" Light screamed, diving on L and spinning the Death Note away from L's grasp. L crumpled in Light's hold, his breath coming out in heaving sobs.

"I thought you wanted me dead," L murmured quietly his gaze fixed on the Death Note.

"At first I did," Light said deciding on honesty, "but now that is the thing I want least in this world."

L was silent as this hit home. Light sat there on the floor holding L, letting him work through what he had done. His smiled, his gaze becoming slightly malicious as he realised that all he had to do was sit and wait and L would come to the _logical _conclusion.

…

"Light-kun," L said slowly his voice quiet, "How did you cope the first time you used the Death note? How can you use it time and again?" He heard the sharp intake of breath from above him and Light tensed.

"I… I didn't believe it the first time; I shrugged it off as coincidence. The second time I spent a couple hours throwing up in an alley."

"You really are Kira. I was right," L murmured.

Yes," Light said sighing pulling L closer to him.

"Explain everything Kira," L said quietly. Light did, not leaving a single detail out, his quiet voice filling the room as L had all his suspicions confirmed and Kira's reasoning explained. Then Light said something that made L's reasoning stop again that evening.

"If you had found the Death Note before all this occurred, in all honesty what would you have done?"

There was a few seconds of silence as L seriously considered how he really felt and he knew that Kira, no Light, had won.

"I would have done the same thing as Light," L murmured the harsh reality of the truth hitting him like a fist to the stomach.

Light's grip tightened on him, L looked up at Light. He looked completely gobsmacked; there was no other word to describe his expression.

"Why does that surprise Light-kun?" L said raising a hand to brush Light's cheek, "I have continuously compared myself and his personality." Then L leaned up and pulled Light into a kiss. As Light responded fiercely, they overbalanced and L fell back with Light on top of him. Light broke the kiss.

"Does this mean you no longer wish to prosecute Kira?" Light whispered.

"That would be correct Light-kun," L murmured then changed the direction of the world, "In fact I believe I would like to side with him."

Anything else he had to say was blocked by Light's mouth crushing his.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note as is probably noticable by the distinct AU of this story.

A/N; Beta'd most wonderfuly by Virtualdraconium.

A/N; Do not read this if you are not a fan of LxLight or if you do not like Evil!L . . . If you do I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please review!

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In which L Reveals his Nature

L lost himself in the kiss with the man he had craved for so long. For the first time in his life he let himself lose himself in something irrational, letting his mind lose focus on the new line of thought it was beginning to take. As he finally accepted the path he was going to take, his hands reached up to entangle his fingers in Light's hair pulling him closer.

Light gasped in shock as L suddenly burst back into life, his sudden actions nearly pulling him off-balance. He gasped again as L pushed up and Light ended up sat in the man's lap.

L smiled slightly at how easy Light was to shock in such a situation, he dearly looked forward to the day when he could explore this further, but he knew they had a problem to deal with that was becoming increasingly worrying with time.

"Light," he said quietly, breaking the kiss.

"Shh," Light said with a slight laugh before attempting to continue the kiss.

"Kira," L said again, quietly but with some force, his hands gripping Light's hair forcing his head back slightly, then turned it towards the bank of screens, "we have a problem to deal with."

Light, who had initially looked quite taken aback at L's sudden change of tack, gulped audibly at the site of Misa's body on the screen.

"Oh."

"Yes, 'Oh' Light-kun." L murmured rising from the floor, Light sliding off before he too got up.

"How do we get a body out of here unobserved L?" Light asked looking concerned, this action may have saved his life and given him L, but it still had the potential to cause some serious problems.

"That is simple Kira-kun," L said sitting back at his desk, "we don't. We let Watari do it for us."

Light winced as L called him Kira again, he hated that name, he had since the day he had been given it by his first fans.

"L, before we go any further with this, let me make one thing clear. If you call me Kira one more time, despite my feelings for you, I _will_ hit you." Light said this through gritted teeth, his feelings all too clear.

L's finger stopped just above the intercom, and he smiled evilly.

"But you are Kira, Kira-kun," L said.

Instantly he was slammed back in his chair as Light grabbed the arms, surprisingly refraining himself from hitting L.

"I am not Kira," Light growled, which caused L to giggle slightly, " I am Light Yagami, who uses the Death Note in order to create a more peaceful and caring world by removing the criminal population. I do not like the name 'Kira', I have never liked being known just for killing, and I would have preferred a name that represented my cause rather than my means."

L's hand came up and caressed his cheek, startling Light so much his eyes widened and he twitched.

"Finally Light-kun begins to tell the truth to me," L sighed smiling, "finished ranting? After all if we don't do something soon things are going to become difficult."

Light sagged, how was L able to do this to him? He had been able to play with Light's feelings and get him second guessing himself since the day they met. He collapsed into the chair next to L, admitting to himself that L's ability to do that to him was one of the reasons he loved him so much. He tried again to fully come to terms with the fact that L had so easily sided with him, did the detective love him that much? Or did the Death Note have so much power over anyone who used it?

Meanwhile, L had called Watari and told him about Misa suddenly collapsing in her room , from what L presumed to be a heart attack, and therefore a body needed removing. If Watari was shocked by L's behaviour over this he said nothing and moments later was seen entering Misa's room with a trolley and a body bag. The Death Note lying unnoticed on the desk, L knew his aide would not have noticed such a thing.

L and Light sat there formulating schemes with which to turn the Investigation team down false lines of investigation and away from Light.

Then Light felt a shiver of fear go down his spine as Rem suddenly entered the room next to him.

"I told you that if anything happened to Misa, Yagami Light, I would make sure you suffered for it," Rem said, her voice low, her Death Note already in her hand. Light sat there like a rabbit in the head lights staring at Rem, in the shock of L's actions he had stupidly forgotten about Rem.

"However, the Misa I knew had already vanished by the time she died, so you are safe from me Yagami," Rem continued staring at Light who visibly relaxed. Then she did something neither of the great men had been expecting. She threw her Death Note at Light's face. It hit him square on the forehead before falling into his lap.

"I have no further use for it," Rem sighed exiting the room. Everyone she had ever cared for had left her, the latest in that line being Jealous, and now Misa. The only other Shinigami she had ever been involved with was Ryuk and she had no desire to see his face again, while she approached her end. She rose into the air, and for the first time in her eons long existence wished she could cry.

…

Behind her Light sat stunned, staring down at the notebook in his lap, his day kept getting better and better.

"I assume the Shinigami's apparent infatuation with Misa was one of the ways you had planned to be rid of me?" L asked reaching for a cake, he needed sugar.

"Yes," Light answered, it felt refreshing to have someone as intelligent as him around who he finally didn't have to lie to.

"Logical plan," L answered between mouthfuls of cake, "I am quite glad it didn't work. By the way someone needs to go and retrieve Misa's Death Note, and I am eating cake."

Light opened his mouth to complain then decided against it; he needed some time alone to think about how best to proceed, and he couldn't do that with L's eyes on him, it was very distracting.

…

L watched Light move through the floors towards Misa's room, and L contemplated his current actions. He couldn't lie to himself, the only reason he had searched for Kira so fanatically was because he could see so much of himself in the reasoning behind Kira, the only reason he wanted to stop Kira was because they were not him. He sighed slightly. He glanced at the Death Note; it really was such a good way to achieve one's end. He smiled, finally he had found a way around crude politics and other institutions which let out heinous criminals early or never put them behind bars in the first place. His grin widened as he finalised a plan to account for Misa's sudden death.

…

Light put the third Death Note down on the desk as he returned, not failing to notice the satisfied expression on L's face. He decided to share his formulated plan with L.

"I think the best way to account for Misa's sudden Death would be for you to admit your use of the Death Note when you observed Misa remove hers and begin to write my name. You immediately realised my innocence as she would never harm Kira, you acted on impulse and used the Death Note here to stop her as there was no other method that would be quick enough. You admit your decision was rash."

As he finished L began to laugh slightly and Light looked at him quizzically wondering what was so wrong with his plan.

"It appears we have had the same idea Light-kun," L said finally, "though you have forgotten the part where we eliminate the investigation team, after all it will be quite boring to spend the day not catching ourselves and I know of some much more interesting competition we could have, and things we could do." He saw Light flinch slightly at this.

"Surely you had the elimination of the team in your future plans Light-kun," L said surprised.

"Yes," Light replied, "but I had hoped to do so only when my father had retired or agreed with me."

"You do realise that the likelihood of him ever viewing the Death Note logically is about 0.05 percent?" L said coldly.

"Yes, but he _is _my father L," Light sighed; he hadn't expected things to move quite this fast, but then again this was L.

"Hide Rem's Death Note," L said suddenly his eyes fixed on the screens. Light glanced up, Watari was in the lift. Light grabbed the note and dived to his briefcase managing to place it inside and regain his seat by the time the lift doors opened.

"Watari," L said calmly.

"What happened to Misa," Watari said obviously shaken.

"I killed her," L said simply, taking another bite of cake before continuing to write in one of his many notebooks.

"What?" Watari said shaken further.

"I observed her beginning to write Light's name into a Death Note, and with a probability of 89 percent that she would continue through the rest of the investigation team, I pre-empted her and wrote her name down in the Death Note up here."

This did not go over well with Watari.

"It takes much less time than 40 seconds to write a name down in the Death Note," Watari said unnerved by the fact that L was lying to him. He looked over at Light and saw for the briefest of seconds a victorious smirk on his face.

"What did you do L?" he asked his brain coming to a terrifying conclusion. L looked up at him his pen pausing. For a moment he and L stared at each other, L's face showing nothing of his inner turmoil. L turned back to his writing one hand fiddling with the paper.

"I did what had to be done considering the circumstances, Watari, surely you can understand that. Though I must apologise to Light-kun, as Misa's actions surely prove his innocence," L said hoping Watari would accept that.

"L this is not like you. The L I know would not have done something so rash. You have let your emotions for Light blind your reasoning," Watari said loudly.

L sighed and laid his pen down, staring at the notes he had made, he knew he could not go back now. He picked up the notebook he had been writing in and showed a page to Watari. Behind him he heard Light gasp.

"No I don't believe I have. I am sorry Watari," L said his voice calm.

A look of panic crossed over Watari's face as he read the words in front of him, he looked back at L shocked at such a complete and utter betrayal. He backed away his head shaking, then the power of the Death Note clouded his mind and he walked out of the room his face blank.

L threw the notebook down on the desk and speared his cake with his fork, his own face as blank as his now doomed aide. He didn't look up as Light reached for the Death Note to see what he had written.

_Quillish Wammy; is overcome by fatigue and goes to bed in the usual manner, after 2 hours of sleep dies peacefully. _

L said nothing as Light carefully began removal of the page by unstitching and then re-stitching the bindings, Light forever grateful in his need for neat attire. He was slightly stunned by the extent L was willing to go to so quickly, he wondered what had been unleashed in the man next to him.

"So that rule was false as well Light-kun," L said as Light finished his task.

Light nodded, somehow feeling defeated by the whole situation. He nearly flinched when L's hand suddenly brushed his cheek.

"Light-kun," L murmured grabbing hold of Light's chin and pulling his head up gently, "You understand, that had to be done, he knew and he would not think twice of reporting this occurrence to the others, and he would make sure they didn't see it from our point of view. Believe me it was too dangerous to let him live."

"I know L," Light replied smiling, "it just surprised me that you would do something like that so quickly, especially when I know how much he means to you."

"He didn't mean as much to me as you do Light-kun," L said forcibly before reclaiming possession of Light's mouth, an action to which Light was only too happy to oblige.

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	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer; Death Note certainly isn't mine, but I do borrow the characters and some of the plot line, not for any profit though.

A/N; Don't read this chapter if you haven't read Another Note, as I make slight spoiler type motions here.

A/N; As all my readers should know, my story is wonderfully Beta'd by Virtualdraconium.

Thank you for reading my story, and please could you review?

The Investigation Continues?

Deep inside the software of Watari's computer a program silently continued its countdown, the numbers in its system changing from double figures into small fleeting single digits. Then, as the final digit clicked into place and zero flashed through the system, an automated email was sent. Watari had always known that the Kira case posed a great risk to him and L, therefore he had taken special precautions this time, without informing L. Unfortunately he had ultimate faith in L, and so in the email there was no warning about L's change of sides…

On Roger's computer at Wammy's house a small beep sounded into the darkness of the room, the email, with all its shocking content had arrived. In the morning there would be chaos.

…

Completely oblivious to the oncoming trouble, Light and L were making plans. They had finally come to some agreements. They would continue along as normal with the investigation team for a few weeks until they had smoothed over the incident with Misa and Watari's death. This would mean that the Japanese police force would have received completely incongruous reports when the investigation team were removed. Apparently L had thought this vital for some reason that Light could not fathom. Once the investigation team were dealt with, L would use his resources to allow Light and himself to completely vanish, and to be completely untraceable.

…

Light looked over at L, his gaze set in his customary Kira smile, as he watched L twirl his pen round in his hand as he watched the news, several notorious murderers had escaped from a jail in America, Light could tell from L's eyes that this angered him immensely.

"Old case?" Light asked, easily figuring out why L was so angered.

"Yes," L replied, still managing to sound unconcerned. At this Light sighed and moved towards his bag where Rem's Death Note was secreted. He moved to stand behind L and lowered it in front of his face. L turned his face up slightly to look up at Light, his eyes glinting, his pen stilled.

"Go on," Light said smiling in encouragement, "I expect it will make you feel better."

L took the notebook and flipped it open. He smiled up at Light and brought his hand over the note, his eyes glancing to the screen to ensure he had remembered the names correctly. Light put his arms on the sides of L's chair, leaning over slightly so he could rest his head on L's shoulder as he wrote. He heard L chuckle slightly at this as he wrote the names into the note.

"Checking up on me Light?" L asked.

"No," Light said, chuckling himself, "Just revelling in the fact that you have joined my side. I have won."

"You shouldn't antagonise me while I am writing Light-kun," L said laughing, "and please remember that you did not _win_, I switched sides. If you had won I would be dead."

"Good point," Light conceded, but redeemed himself by biting L's earlobe slightly, causing the man to jump. Light repeated the action as L stopped writing. L leaned back in his chair as Light's attention moved to his neck, L groaned. Then as Light began to mark L, L's hand came up and brought Light's face up to his own and kissed him. As Light broke away to breathe his eyes sparkled, almost returning to the innocence they had once contained, only the smirk belayed that, his eyes fixed on the slightly red faced L. His smile softened as he remembered the last time he had seen L this way.

"I believe you now look exactly the same as the first time I realised I could fall for you," Light murmured.

"Oh?" L said his voice betraying no hint at his inner amusement.

"The day we played tennis," Light clarified, "With all my thoughts and counter-thoughts over what you would decide about me from the game, when I realised that you were cute it nearly threw me completely off my game."

At this L threw back his head and laughed for the first time Light had ever seen.

"I always thought the glint in your eyes as the game ended was because of your scheming, not because you were looking me over," L said through his laughter. Light sighed and returned to his seat, he couldn't get angry at L for laughing, it was too cute.

"When did you first fall for me?" Light said, as L stopped laughing.

L seemed to consider this for a time.

"I believe it was when I had your house under observation, it was nice to watch you sleeping," L said, in complete honesty, "it was good to see someone so totally enjoying doing something I can not physically do. Somewhere along the line I just liked watching you."

Surprisingly Light felt no squeamishness from this revelation, he just felt touched to think L had always felt something for him. He had seen, during his time chained to the detective, how difficult he found it to sleep; it wasn't that the detective didn't _want_ to sleep; it seemed he was physically incapable of dropping off.

…

L and Light sat watching the investigation team arrive; the long night that he and L had spent planning all eventualities had given Light the time to prepare to act the grieving, shocked, boyfriend. Fortunately the investigation team already knew of Misa's death, Watari had informed them as he had removed Misa's body from the building.

"I still can't believe it," Matsuda said quietly as he took his usual place, his countenance unusually grim.

Soichiro moved over towards his son, gazing down at the seemingly depressed man, before his arms encircled him awkwardly. Light tightly hugged his father back; allowing himself a slight sobbing noise as he buried his smirk from view.

"I never believed L," Light murmured, "I never thought it suspicious that she had sought me out; I just thought she loved me."

Light had said this just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"It would seem," L said beginning on the cover story, "that Misa sought out Light on orders from the real Kira. It is likely Kira wanted to use Light as a means of gaining access to the Investigation, however this didn't work due to Light's impeccable character and his desire to catch Kira. Seeing this as some form of slight against him, Kira gave Misa orders to remove Light Yagami. Thankfully I stopped that from happening."

At this L opened both Notes to show Misa's name in one, and the partially finished Light Yagami in the other. There was a series of shocked reactions from around the room.

"Of course I apologise to Light-kin for having suspicions against him for so long. It appears even I did not know how devious and intelligent Kira was. A mistake I intend not to make again," L continued before anyone else could say anything. He knew they had to move fast to ensure that no-one got suspicious.

Light merely responded to L's apology with a slight nod in his direction, genuine surprise in his eyes at the apology, it seemed despite all the planning L still wanted to improvise. That, or he didn't have faith in Light's acting abilities.

L sat there letting all this information settle into everyone's minds.

"So that means we are back to square one," Aizawa said quietly, "it could be anyone."

"Effectively, yes," L said quietly, reaching for some cake, then he realised that there was no cake up here yet. _Oh well_ he thought, _better to do this sooner rather than later._

"Watari," he called, his finger going down on the intercom, then paused as if waiting for a response.

"Watari?" he called again, managing to sound worried. He typed vigorously on the keyboard in front of him; an image of Watari's operation room came on screen. It was, of course, missing a Watari.

In an excellent performance of a worried person, L skidded out of his chair and out of the room, the investigation team and Light following.

…

The investigation team caught up with L a couple of minutes after the man had run into what must have been Watari's bedroom. The detective was kneeling next to the bed holding one of Watari's hands. An action he quickly snapped out of as they entered.

"It appears he has passed away in his sleep," L said his voice coming out in a cold monotone; "he was a very old man." He stood there staring down at the body of the man who had covered his every need from a great distance, while never giving L any kindness. Always moving him from case to case, and treating his potential heirs abysmally until L had got involved. He had never felt anything for the man.

His was brought out of his reverie by Soichiro Yagami coming over and placing one hand on his shoulder, and when L didn't resist, mostly out of surprise, pulled him into a hug. Something inside L cracked at this, and he found himself hugging Soichiro tightly back. He pulled away after a few seconds; he knew he could not show weakness around these people. He glanced at Light; he was looking at him with a mixture of concern and confusion.

…

_What was L doing?_ Light wondered, _either L was a very good actor or his casual actions were affecting him._ L glanced at him and Light knew that the emotion L was portraying was real, but if so why had he so quickly removed Watari? He let his eyes flick to the body on the bed and back to L who still looked at him. L shook his head slightly, so Light had the answer to one question. L was not affected in any way by the man's demise.

"I would appreciate it if you would all leave me. I do not think the investigation will be done efficiently today," L said quietly.

The investigation team murmured words of sympathy and hurriedly left the room. Light followed them out of the room and accompanied them to the foyer.

"Otou-san," Light said quietly, sinking down onto the steps, "I think I'll stay here, I can't bear to think of what Ryuzaki will do left in this building completely on his own and… and I know what he is going through."

His father moved to sit beside him.

"I understand Light," he murmured, looking at his son with much concern, "but you know you can come home whenever you want, your mother and sister miss you very much."

Light smiled across at his father.

"I know, tell them I am sorry and I send my love," Light replied.

"Of course," Soichiro replied, before moving off to follow the rest of the team out of the door.

Light sat there for a few minutes ensuring that the team had gone past all the security checks and had truly left. Then he turned and smiled at the camera behind him, he knew L was watching him, he could feel it, after all he'd had a lot of practice. He stood up and dusted off his trousers and headed back upstairs.

…

L smirked slightly as Light suddenly turned and smiled directly at the camera L was watching him through, there were six other cameras in the room and yet Light still knew. He twirled around in his chair, his plan was going perfectly.

He glanced at the clock, Light was five minutes late in arriving back in the main room. L had no idea what could be keeping him. Then L's face lit up as Light entered the room, he was carrying cake!

…

They spent the day organising Watari's funeral, and Light finally had the courage to ask L why he had killed Watari so casually, yet had looked so pained.

"Watari never had any emotions towards me except in the way my brain worked so effortlessly on cases, he never spent much time with me and when I was younger he almost forced me into working on cases, turning my own insomnia against me to do it. Then he decided that if anything happened to me there needed to be back-ups to take over, this was when I was eleven. They were treated abysmally and were almost nervous wrecks. I never even knew of their existence until one finally broke under the pressure and committed suicide."

At this L paused and jabbed the cake his was eating with his fork.

"By the time I stepped in to stop what they were going through it was already too late. One had decided that he wanted to be me, the worst part of that was that he had even tried to look like me, and had done a very good job, apart from the eyes."

L trailed off and focused on his cake not looking at Light. Light sat there appalled, he knew he would have killed Watari himself for that. Then L began talking again.

"I very much doubt my current heirs would follow our logic in relation to the Death Note, so I warn you, we will have to face them at some point. They would not hesitate to investigate this case particularly if my attempts to find Kira take too long. They would dearly love to surpass me, they have been trained well."

"Don't you know their names and faces?" Light asked, his brow furrowing.

"Oh yes," L replied, "but I want to see how good they really are, and it would not be right to kill them out of hand for not following us, they have been trained to follow me, and I investigated this case, so they will too. There is a high probability that some of them can be convinced."

…

Two days later, they attended Watari's funeral, they stood in the cemetery in the pouring rain surrounded by the Investigation team. They had turned round and forced the Kira case on hiatus for a week, something that had surprised both L and Light, but not having to pretend at investigation for seven hours, at least, a day was appreciated. Light had heard L gasp once as the ceremony continued and he knew something had suddenly occurred to the detective. He refrained from asking what was up there were too many people around.

…

L raced down the stairs that led to Watari's operational room, his bare feet taping on the wood. Light followed moments behind him, looking confused. L dove into the room and over to the computer his fingers flying on the keys. Then, much to Light's surprise brought his fist down and broke the keyboard in two.

"Of all the mistakes to make," L nearly roared, "why did I have to make one this stupid?"

"L?" Light said quietly, he was shocked to his core.

"Watari had set up a timer alert system, my heirs now know he is dead and they now have all the information on the Kira case, they will know that you are Kira, just like I knew you were. Then they will know I have sided with you." L has said all this through gritted teeth.

Light moved over to place a hand on L's shoulder, but L shook him off. Light stood there thinking of ways out of this, these heirs getting involved in the game with all this information and this soon threw off all their carefully laid plans. He could understand why L was angry.

"It would appear Light-kun," L said eventually, "that I will have to die."

He laughed at the shocked expression on Light's face, and then continued.

"Of course it won't be for real. If I die on paper then I will have much more freedom to move around, if I was alive my heirs would have too much information on my movements… Dead I could pretty much go anywhere, and they will feel more secure knowing that Kira won't have their names."

Light nodded at the logic of the plan, it did make sense, however he didn't like where it was leading.

"This will make _me _a suspect again though, won't it?"

"Yes, but that can't be helped, anyway they couldn't do anything as the Investigation team will be here to back you up, which means they have to live for now. It would seriously hinder my successors as well if you were to take up the mantle of L."

"You just want to torture me don't you?" Light said, exasperated.

"Well in some ways yes, but aren't we discussing _this_ plan at the moment?"

Light hit L over the head with his hand.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N; WARNING spoiler for L's true name, though everyone probably knows it by now.

A/N; Beta'd by my wonderful friend Virtualdraconium.

A/N; I am sorry it has taken a while for me to update this story, but I find writing L as evil quite difficult and, despite what my friends may say (after I poke them), I am NOT a mean person. Writing cruelty makes me feel quite guilty, almost as if I were doing this for real. I do promise that I will continue with this story. I have started so I will finish.

The World Twists and a Detective Dies

They had planned L's death most meticulously as the investigation had continued, and they knew they had to act soon else lose the opportunity. On the third day back investigating they decided to act. Today would be the day L died. He was taking it rather well.

…

L watched from his usual position as the investigation team entered for the final time, he was somehow glad he wouldn't have to put up with their presence any more, they annoyed him. They insisted on spending every minute working, life wasn't meant to be spent that way, if you didn't have a lead, you should relax, sit back and do something different for a while. That was usually when he found that the intuition he was known for kicked in.

He sighed and reached for a strawberry, biting the end off, then dipping it in a pot of molten chocolate. He glanced away from the pot to see Light watching him with a small smile. On noticing this, L decided to play with the strawberry for as long as possible with his tongue, eyes fixed on Light. He considered it his victory when Light blushed suddenly and his gaze dropped back to his computer screen.

L glanced at the clock on his computer; they had precisely 63 minutes until the fun would begin. He glanced back at his strawberries, did a quick calculation and realised he had enough strawberries for one every 3 minutes. He smiled, he decided to torture Light with every one.

…

L was three-quarters of the way through his strawberries when he began stage one of the plan.

"Yagami-san," he said, suddenly turning in his chair to face the older man, "I would appreciate it if you were to go out and acquire some cake for me." – Insert slight pause for effect – "As I no longer have anyone to aid me here."

Any protest Soichiro may have had to such a menial task died with L's last words, and his face became slightly grim.

"Of course Ryuuzaki," Soichiro murmured; then he headed towards the exit.

Light watched as his father left, then his gaze flicked slightly to Ryuk, for some reason the shinigami was staring intently at his father. Light turned back to his 'work', he knew Ryuk like to stare at things for unknown reasons.

There were now fifteen minutes until L died.

…

The hands on the face of the clock of the investigation room swung round in their slow dance, counting down the seconds to the final act.

Light realised, as the final seconds began, that he actually felt nervous. For the first time since he had decided to use the Death Note to change the world, he was feeling nervous.

Then L suddenly clutched at his chest and fell sideways from his chair to the floor, his breath coming in gasps. Light dove to catch him. And succeeded.

"Ryuuzaki," Light screamed down at the now slightly convulsing figure in his arms.

"Light-kun," L gasped, before falling limp out of Light's grasp onto the cold of the floor his now seemingly lifeless gaze staring at the investigation team.

Light backed away managing to turn his laughter into slight screams; then he fell over the swivel chair his gaze still fixed on L, who had to hold back a smirk, falling over the chair had not been in the original plan.

"We're next," Light began muttering, though still managing to be heard by everyone else.

The rest of the team had sat in shock till this point, the events happening before their eyes too stunning to allow them movement. At Light's words however they jumped to their feet and backed away slightly as if distance from L would give them sanctuary.

There was the sound of a body hitting the floor and all heads turned to see Mogi lying on the floor, his body twisted in death.

"Mogi," Aizawa called, moving towards his friend, before his eyes went wide. He turned towards Matsuda one arm outstretched before falling at Matsuda's feet.

Matsuda screamed.

He fell to his knees, roughly shaking the still body of his friend, the only thought in his mind focused on why was he not dead. Then his throat constricted as he felt arms wrap around him and pull him backwards and up.

"Shh Matsuda," Light whispered in his ear, "_You _are not going to die. I spared you, you are innocent and you understand the ideals for which I strive."

"What?" Matsuda managed to say as his throat constricted and his body went rigid.

"The others didn't understand how human laws were failing the world and leading it into decay and ruin, they did not acknowledge that _my _method _was_ working. You yourself acknowledged this many times didn't you."

"You really are Kira," Matsuda murmured, feeling like a mouse in the paws of a cat.

"Yes," Light whispered, "I am the God of this new world."

"You want to be God?" Matsuda whispered, struggling to swallow.

"No, I _am_ God," Light whispered, tightening his hold on Matsuda. He knew the man's mind was fragile, all it would take were a few more pushes and Matsuda would be his.

"You can't be," Matsuda whispered.

"Shall I prove it to you then?" Light whispered, his grin turning feral, "I shall bring back the dead."

Matsuda's gaze fell once more on his fallen friends.

"Oh. Not them dear Matsuda," Light whispered, "Did I not tell you they were beyond saving?"

Suddenly Matsuda was spun away from Light as Light moved away towards L's fallen body.

…

Matsuda watched as Light knelt down and whispered something into the Great Detective's ear then rose to his feet. Matsuda fell to his knees, and his eyes went wide as L gave a great shuddering gasp, his body constricting slightly and life suddenly flared in his eyes, his gaze focusing on Matsuda before flicking up at Light.

Light offered L his hand and pulled the shaky detective to his feet.

"L Lawliet," Light said grandly, "are you ready to aid me in my quest for a new and beautiful Eden?"

"Yes," L replied simply, bending and kissing Light's hand. Light had to stifle a groan as L nipped him oh so slightly as he did so.

Light turned back to Matsuda.

"Now do you believe?" Light asked, coming over to stand in front of the kneeling officer.

Matsuda stared up at Light for a brief second, then bowed his head. He knew that even if Light was not God then he was still unstoppable with L at his side. He knew that Light was right, his method _was_ working, the world was becoming safer for the innocent. Matsuda felt the last of his freedom collapse as Light's hand ran through his hair.

"Do you believe?" Light asked him again, his voice sounding calm and soothing.

"Yes," Matsuda whispered, and now he truly did. He would help Light achieve his ends; he would help them both with everything he had.

Above him Light smiled, his eyes glinting down at Matsuda, his gaze softening as L wrapped his arms around him.

It was suddenly Light's turn to have sweet nothings whispered into his ear as L whispered,

"You looked so hot doing that to his mind."

Then L bit Light's ear. Things would have gone downhill from there, if Light's mobile hadn't chosen that moment to ring. L sighed from behind him, annoyed that his game was being interrupted.

"Moshi Moshi," Light said, answering the call. After a brief moment where Light's face became ashen the phone fell from his grasp and shattered on the floor. This startled Matsuda, who moved away hurriedly still not daring to look up from the floor, and L, who jerked away from the sudden tension that emanated from Light.

"My father has had another heart attack," Light whispered his gaze turned to L his eyes filled with suspicion and increasing ice, his mind whipping back to when Ryuk had stared after his father. L's eyes widened and he shook his head slightly; he pleaded his case with his eyes.

"I wouldn't," L mouthed, he suddenly felt very, very scared under Light's intense gaze.

"You both stay here, I must go to him, deal with this," Light said, his voice hard, gesturing at the two corpses. Half way to the door Light turned back to L and smiled and nodded.

L sagged in relief, Light believed him. L would never have touched Soichiro, the man was a good officer, a believer in justice and Light loved his father.

…

Light stared down at the sleeping form of his father. The last half hour had been torture. It had broken his heart to see the double break-downs his father had just gone through. The first when he had been told he would never walk again, since he had been driving at the time of his heart attack, which had not turned out well for him. The second was when a by now already sobbing Light, had told him about the death of L, Mogi and Aizawa. Light had never seen his father cry before that day.

His father had taken the news badly and told Light to catch Kira, to avenge the death of the team. Light of course had promised he would, that he would find out who Kira was. Then Light's mother and sister had arrived and the case had been dismissed in favour of heartfelt words and tears.

Light moved out into the corridor to head back to L, but was held up by his sister.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to go back to catch Kira, he killed everyone except Matsuda and I. I am so grateful father wasn't there when he managed it."

"You never were any good at lying to me Light," Sayu murmured, and she pulled him into a side room.

"The only one in Japan who could have done this Light," she whispered, "was you."

Light looked at her in shock. How could he get out of this? Then he saw that she was looking at him with what appeared to be admiration, and he remembered hearing his sister talking to her friends about her support for Kira's reasoning.

"Yes, that is true," Light said, "I will change this rotting world for the better, for you and mother and for all the other innocent people out there who are suffering."

Light was surprised when Sayu embraced him.

"Be careful Light," she whispered, "and thank you." Sayu looked up into her brother's eyes with obvious devotion and love, before spinning round and leaving the room. Behind her Light smiled, everything was going most wonderfully.

…

Light strode back into the investigation tower, his step confident.

L rose to meet him as he entered the main room, which was now empty of corpses.

"How is your father?" L asked, the glare from earlier still haunting his mind.

"He will be fine. Eventually," Light sighed, "He was driving his car, apparently worrying about the sudden deaths and finding Kira, and he had a heart attack. Not the best place to have one. He crashed the car and because of that he has lost the use of both of his legs."

Light sank into a nearby chair, recounting the tale had taken away his good mood. He started when L brought his arms around Light and rested his head on his shoulder.

"He is a strong man Light-kun," L murmured, "he will recover well, particularly as he will no longer have the stress of the Kira case to worry him. We will make sure he is well cared for, and won't have to worry about anything."

Light leaned back in the chair, sighing again in relaxation as L began massaging his shoulders; he leant forwards as L pushed him with his thumbs. Then he groaned as L began working on his back and spine.

"Light-kun is always so tense," L murmured.

"Not as tense as I was when you were breathing down my back," Light sighed.

"Technically I am still breathing down your neck Light-kun," L laughed.

"I am not going to dignify that with a reply," Light murmured, not wanting to fight back, he wasn't going to give L that pleasure. He ignored L's small laugh from behind him as L continued his ministrations of his back.

Then a thought struck Light.

"Where's Matsuda?"

"I locked him in a detention room. I didn't want to risk the chance of him coming to his senses and escaping."

"How did he take that?"

"He only said one sentence the entire time Light-kun," L murmured, "He only a said 'If this is what Kami-sama desires'."

"He really said that?" Light laughed.

"I am hardly known for my humour Light-kun," L replied, "I believe he is now completely faithful to you. Though the next time you decide to raise me from the dead, I won't play along."

"He wasn't as broken by the death of his friends as I thought he would be, so I improvised. We did agree that he was innocent enough to save."

"That is true," L replied, "Now I believe it is time we turned our attentions to our immediate plans. After all, the world will not turn into our Eden overnight, especially if we do not do anything."

Light laughed and pulled the Death Note that adorned the counter towards him, flipping it open dramatically. L went to his seat and followed suit.

"Shall we begin?"


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer; Death Note ain't mine, I wish it was, but it ain't so. Only borrowing the characters.

A/N; Sorry it has taken me so long to update, the next chapter will be along much more quickly than this one!

A/N; Beta'd as usual by Virtualdraconium, without whom all my grammar errors would be on show to the world. Virtualdraconium is also the best person for removing my very silly plot ideas from the story line. Thank you.

A/N; Please read and review, as reviews make me feel very happy, particularly needed after writing an evil L.

* * *

An Ill Wind Blows

As the dawn light raced around the globe, the rising sun brought not only the fresh morning light, but also a new beginning for Kira's cause. The largest, and perhaps the most notorious prison, in each and every country on the globe found themselves swiftly and noiselessly emptied of prisoners as the dawn light fell glinted off their rooftops. The passage of death was indiscriminate and left no one no matter what their crime.

As it occurred in each country a message from Kira arrived in the inbox of every important politician and reporter detailing how the country could drastically increase their funds for public spending and end their problems with the "criminal underclass". All they had to do was bow down to Kira and obey the occasional command.

…

Before another day had passed half the world's countries had acquiesced to Kira and throughout the largest and most developed countries there were already rallies forming on behalf of Kira, and of course against, though as time passed the numbers in support of Kira grew as the countries that had acknowledged Kira lost their entire criminal population.

…

On the third day Kira upped the ante; in each and every country with paedophile and rapist watch lists they found those lists were now redundant as one by one the individuals died by heart attack. Once the news was made common knowledge, something made easier by Kira's suddenly regular bulletins to news channels, the rallies and demonstrations almost turned into riots, all proclaiming Kira the new God. The United States of America was the first to fall, the President calling an emergency Press conference before nervously taking to the stage.

"Due to recent groundbreaking events around the world that have proven Kira's efficacy, it is with great deliberation and thought that the United States of America cede over its justice system to Kira and acknowledge Kira on the world stage as a leading world figure."

As he finished the room exploded into uproar. Though it is doubtful that he had expected such a cheer from the reporters; as the cheers and applause washed over him he felt a small part of his soul break. He knew this could only be the beginning, those who reach for power always wish for more. He also knew that if America fell than many others would also follow suit, he could only hope that the world he was leading them into would not hold such destruction as he feared.

He moved almost autonomously back to the Oval office his face grim. He slumped into his chair holding his head in his hands. Then the phone on his desk rang, the tone indicating it had not passed through his secretary, it could only mean one thing, his new "_commander"_ was contacting him. With a shaking hand he lifted the receiver.

"Hello David."

He said nothing, he knew not what to say.

"I assume I do not need to tell you who I am, though I could demonstrate if you so desired?"

"No," David replied, his voice almost tinny as he struggled to respond.

He was unnerved by the sinister laughter his response elicited.

"It is pleasing that you have come to see the benefits of siding with me, _Mr President._"

"What do you wish of me?"

"Merely your respect and cooperation," the voice responded, "and of course America's obedience to any instruction I send, though you can be assured that these will be few and far between."

There was only a strangled response from the President.

"Oh don't worry, I don't want your weapons, why would I use such _crude_ methods? Particularly when so many _innocent_ people would lose their lives?_ I_ am not ruthless,_ I_ do not require _Nuclear Weapons_."

The President found himself actually rushing to apologise at the hurt and angered tone the person had used.

"There is no need to apologise, you find I can be merciful to mistakes made in ignorance for which genuine remorse is shown."

There was a click and the line went dead.

_Merciful? _David thought _MERCIFUL? How can judgement from such a distance, done so quickly and in such wholesale numbers, be done by someone merciful. _

…

His laughter echoed round the room as Light pulled off his headset. The conversation could only have gone better if he'd been able to see the face of the president as he had spoken. Never, in his wildest of dreams had he expected the world to fall at his feet so readily, but then, he mused as he glanced over at L who was watching him with an amused smirk himself, he had never contemplated having such a man on his side. With L on his side anything was possible.

"Light-kun," L said quietly, "did you know your laughter is gradually becoming more and more like an evil overlord's?"

Light abruptly stopped laughing, his brows set in thought.

"Did I really just hear you say evil overlord? _You _just said evil overlord?," Light responded finally, before laughing again, this time in a more refined less evil overlord type way. As such he was entirely unprepared for the pen that collided with his forehead.

…

"Linda."

"Hey Linda!"

"What?" Linda finally replied, her gaze moving away from the television, the paused image showing the American President.

"You've been sat there for almost an hour doing nothing," Matt sighed, "I believe it is our turn to use it now, as you have been doing _nothing."_

Linda glanced behind the determined gamer, at Mello, who merely shrugged, but then he'd been quite morose since Roger had informed them of the possible death of L. She sighed and gathered up her disks. She couldn't believe no one else here seemed concerned by the sudden change in Kira's tactics, or the way each country seemed destined to fall.

The rest of the day passed with grey thoughts and little achievement, her mind straying back again and again to the timer counting down somewhere, about to certify L's death. Something felt wrong. First Watari had sent that data at his death, and now L was likely to be dead, plus Kira had suddenly upped the ante. Just how had Kira gained access to such knowledge?

Her thoughts paused for a few seconds as sudden realisation hit her, L was alive despite all signs to the contrary and was _working_ with Kira. Had she not been sitting she would have crumbled to the floor as her world shattered. L, the defender and bastion of justice had sided with such evil!?! No she had to be wrong, he couldn't have! The more she thought through the evidence the more she saw it, of course there was absolutely _no_ evidence, she just knew it was true.

For hours she sat in her now dark room her tearful face lit by the glow from her computer screen. Then bit by bit her eyes reclaimed their previous glow.

"I shall stop them," she whispered into the room, "After all are we not L's successors here?"

With new determination she flew round the room gathering up her stuff, then as an afterthought she duplicated the disks. No-one would believe her, but she knew of one person here who would keep them.

She crept along the hall and knocked lightly on the wooden door that proclaimed to the rest of the world that "Entrance is strictly forbidden" in large red and black letters. The door was jerked open and a begoggled face stared out at her.

"Yo," Matt said, his sentence punctuated by the sound of breaking chocolate from behind him.

_I should have known _Linda thought, _these two always hang around with each other. _

"Hi Matt, I was wondering if you could keep these disks safe for me? I am leaving, I don't want to stay any longer. Just, if you don't hear from me in a while could you look at them?" She brandished the package of disks at Matt.

_Please don't ask questions._

"Sure Linda," Matt murmured, "Just don't do anything I wouldn't do."

There was a short laugh from behind him as Mello joined the conversation.

"Why are you going Linda?" Mello murmured, the first words he has spoken to anyone besides Matt in the past week.

"There's something I need to do," Linda said staring past Matt to glare defiance at Mello.

They stared at each other for a brief moment, then to her surprise Mello sighed and turned away.

"Take care of yourself Linda. Don't do anything dangerous," Mello sighed.

"You aren't going to try and stop me?" Linda gasped, she had thought that Mello would force her to stay somehow.

"Why should we?" They responded together.

"You are your own person, what right do we have to try and stop you on your way?" Matt whispered.

"Thank you, and goodbye," Linda said smiling.

She turned on her heel, grabbed her stuff and strode from Wammy's House.

…

Two weeks later Linda strode down a busy street in Tokyo, Japan, her small list of contacts had smuggled her into the country without being noticed. She had narrowed the possible locations for this new Kira and L team to be hiding, all were in Tokyo. Two were unlikely they had very little in the way of security and she had no difficulty sneaking her way inside. She smiled slightly as she remembered Mello telling her she would make a good thief because of her talents if she ever wanted a career change from justice.

Then her thoughts came abruptly back to her cause as she looked up at the building in front of her. She had never believed L could be so ostentatious, he had built an _entire_ skyscraper. Right in the centre of Tokyo! Despite herself, she found she was once more in awe of her fallen hero. She shook her head slightly, she could not think that way, she _had _to continue.

Five minutes later she was certain L was inside this building, the security systems were intense and the backups had backups. She spent part of her time to get through one door hacking the security while picking the lock, part of her finally realising why Mello and Matt always worked as a team. Not that she couldn't do it, she was three doors past that one now and camera dodging. She managed to set up loop after loop through the security system with her laptop.

She pulled at her mask as she rode the elevator upwards, the electricity supply was only spiking on one floor so L must be there and Kira was likely to be there too. She would remove their evil from the world, she didn't care what happened to her afterwards. L had been her only reason for continuing after the events of her childhood, and even he had betrayed her.

Swiftly and with practised ease, she gradually assembled her gun, the only weapon she had ever owned that had been a rare and valued present from Mello. She knew she was not as clever as the others at Wammy's, she knew she could never get enough evidence on her own for people to believe her, this was the only route she had left.

She moved on silent feet towards the double doors at the end of the corridor, light spilling out towards her. Her thumb silently removed the safety from her pistol. All thoughts except her task left her mind.

…

L watched as the invader moved past his hiding position in the dark and he smiled, he never knew Linda had this in her. He also had never truly believed her to be this stupid. He moved behind her, Death Note and pen at the ready. The circumstances were all ready, all he had to do was add her name. He didn't know why Light wanted her to get this far, they could have stopped her the first time his contacts had informed him of her presence. _Then again,_ he thought, _Light does like to play games as much as I._

He watched her enter the investigation room, the gun rising.

_Wait _he thought, _the gun?_

Then the shot rang out and someone screamed.

…


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer; Death Note isn't mine, I merely borrow, but unlike in Death Note Alphabet, they will not be returned in relatively good condition at all... If I do have enough left to return.... oh dear.

A/N; Beta'd wonderfully by Virtualdraconium, whose comments on aspects of my story make her red pen easier to withstand.

A/N; Please read and review!

A/N; Oh and don't say I didn't warn you about my Evil L...

* * *

Beginnings and Endings

_Then the shot rang out and someone screamed._

L gasped and moved forward, coming swiftly to a halt at the doorway as he heard Light cry out, the sound tinged with obvious concern, but _not _pain. _Light was alive._ L sagged against the door frame as pure relief flooded his system. Then he slipped into the room, coming to stand just behind Linda, his gaze fixed on the scene in front of him.

Matsuda had taken the bullet Linda had intended for Light. Light was knelt next to Matsuda looking over the wound, completely ignoring the now shaking Linda.

"Everything will be alright," Light murmured at Matsuda, "It doesn't look serious." Then Light focused his gaze on Linda.

"Hello Linda," he said, his voice dripping with venom as he stepped past Matsuda and shielded him from Linda. Linda gasped and L rolled his eyes, but Light ignored the latter.

"You shot my friend," Light said coldly, "more importantly you shot an innocent person, the least you can do is talk."

"Why should I talk to you? You are Kira!" She moved the gun so it pointed directly at Light's heart.

Light sighed, shielding his eyes slightly with one hand in despondency.

"Don't call me Kira," Light growled, annoyed. "The term Kira is derived from 'Killer', which is not what I am. I am merely bringing justice to the world by removing all the people who had sinned against the community. A killer is someone who kills without good reason or authority. Need I continue?"

"Shut Up!" She screamed and she went to pull the trigger.

Suddenly she found herself thrown to the floor, the gun skidding off into the corner of the room. She was wrenched back up onto her knees, both hands wrenched behind her back as a pair of handcuffs clicked onto her wrists. Then a hand removed her mask, and she screamed, squeezing her eyes shut in terror; she knew she was going to die soon.

She stopped as Light's laughter filled the room. She opened her eyes and almost wished she hadn't as her suspicions were proven true. L sat before her, thumb in his mouth, observing her with a most unnerving gleam in his eyes. Off to one side the man she had shot was being tended to by Kira, who was actually whispering kind and caring words at the man, who she saw was completely taken in by them.

"You should know that you don't judge criminals before questioning them first," L murmured.

"I am not a criminal," Linda said through gritted teeth, "_you_ are the criminals."

At this Light laughed again, as L merely tutted at her.

"Shall I list your crimes for you Linda?" L whispered, "First we have illegal entry into Japan, carrying a fire arm, breaking and entering, grievous bodily harm and planning to commit murder. Does that clarify things for you?"

Linda glared at her onetime hero.

"Why?" she whispered, slumping, "why did you side with him?"

"Because the world was rotting, and criminal after criminal was receiving a lighter sentence, was being let out early or being let off for their crimes," L murmured, "Rapists and murderers were being let out of jail." L finished speaking, his voice almost a hiss.

"That still gives _no-one_ the right to kill them out of hand in the name of justice," she cried.

"Voulez-vous avoir de bonnes lois; brûlez les vôtres, et faites-en de nouvelle," (1) L whispered, smiling enigmatically.

"You can't just change the laws to suit your purposes!" She cried.

"The law has failed the innocent and freed the guilty," L sighed, "who other than I, who has served justice so diligently, has a greater right? But I can see you are blinded by the conventions of society."

L reached for the notebook and pen at his side, flipping to the correct page, Linda realised that this must be a 'Death Note' like Watari had mentioned, she had not quite believed him until now.

"So you are going to kill me, just for not agreeing with you?"

"Do I need to list your crimes again?" L said, looking up at her, his pen poised.

"Don't," she whispered as the pen touched the paper, her voice strangled.

"I very much doubt you were going to let us live, were you?" L said harshly, finishing Linda's true name with a flourish. Then he came over and in the final seconds of free thought she had left let Linda read what was going to happen.

Her eyes widened and fresh tears fell.

"No," she sobbed, gulping for air, before suddenly stilling a few seconds later. Wordlessly L moved behind her and removed the handcuffs.

"I believe that it is time for you to leave Linda," he murmured, smiling down at the now docile woman, and offered her his hand. Robotically Linda stood at his words and thanked L, before silently gathering up her stuff and leaving the room, her face blank.

"She turned out to be useful after all," L said as Linda left, now set on the task L had written for her. Then L looked down at the now comatose Matsuda. "Shouldn't he go to the hospital?"

"He refused," Light murmured, who was finishing bandaging Matsuda's arm, "He didn't want us to have to deal with the questions it would raise. He is so very loyal. It missed his arteries so he should be fine, even though it went through his arm. I was quite surprised that he pushed me out of the way."

"I surmised he had done something like that, seems he was useful after all." L said. Then he pulled Light into an embrace. "I was very worried for you when I heard the shot."

"Sorry I worried you," Light whispered into his ear, before worrying L's neck.

"Do it as often as you like if this is how you apologise," L murmured, leaning into Light. He moaned as Light stopped to laugh, his breath hot on L's neck.

"What did you write for her to do?" Light asked.

"Once the timer on my supposed death finishes, and Wammy's house is informed of my 'death', she will wake from her stupor and burn the place to the ground, with herself inside of course. I always did hate the décor there," L replied, laughing as he finished.

"It's rather harsh to treat your successors that way," Light murmured, pulling away from L slightly to stare down at L's face.

"It's the only logical course of action," L replied shrugging, "This will separate them up and make sure they do not work together as a cohesive whole. Once the place burns down, most will vanish out of sight and become completely harmless members of society. There are trust funds set up for each of them to allow for this, I am not uncaring."

"I understand. I should have more faith in you," Light sighed.

"Indeed you should Light-kun," L reprimanded. "Now, I believe we should move our faithful servant to a more comfortable position."

Light glanced over his shoulder at the sleeping Matsuda.

"Yes, the sofa is not the best place for an injured person," Light agreed, reaching down to easily pick up the sleeping policeman, and then carried him off.

L thought it was rather cute how Light was acting around Matsuda; it was almost as though Light had gained a puppy. Then, as he thought back over Light's actions, he realised Light was treating Matsuda exactly like a little puppy. The funniest part though was Matsuda was responding like a puppy to this treatment. L laughed, picking up the Death Note and, humming to himself, began to judge the criminals left in the great US of A.

He didn't look up as Light entered the room once more, so he didn't notice the predatory gleam in the man's eyes as he approached. He did notice, however, when Light's arms enfolded him and a hand raised his head so Light could reach down for a kiss. L's hands spasmed and he dropped the pen, before he moaned into Light's mouth. Satisfied Light pulled away and smirked down at the normally so composed L.

"Are you quite finished?" L sighed, deciding to act annoyed, "Oh and I need my pen back."

Light frowned at L, he couldn't understand how the man could do that, he knew he had turned him on, and yet the guy would just sit there, calmly, and practically tell his new partner off. Light sighed despondently and reached down to pick up the fallen pen. He was totally unprepared for the sudden pat on the head this gained him from L.

"Good Light-kun," L said, laughing. Light straightened, his grip tightening on the pen, and he growled; his pride had definitely just been stepped on.

"Why do you always take things the wrong way?" L sighed, before reaching up and pulling Light into a rough and demanding kiss, feeling Light relax and lean into his touch. L smiled, he loved turning his Light into putty in his hands.

…

It was not remarked upon by anyone at Wammy's House when Linda returned to their company. When asked, she would repeatedly tell people it was none of their business, and would stay almost apathetically in her room for most of the day, only emerging for meals. Only Mello and Matt noticed the severe change in personality, both were concerned for their friend. Both knew better than to say anything.

Matt and Mello ran through their halls after one of their occasional games of football with the others, but were interrupted by Roger grabbing Mello by the arm and summoning both him and Near to his office.

"Hey, I'll meet you back in your room," Mello called to Matt, pointedly ignoring the white haired boy stood next to him. Matt gave him the OK symbol as he walked off.

…

"He's dead!" Mello wailed as he entered Matt's room.

"What?!?" Matt responded, needing no confirmation as to who Mello was talking about.

"He's dead," Mello said again, before crumpling to the floor next to his friend, finally letting his tears fall, "and _I_ am leaving, I do _not_ want to work with_ Near_ on the Kira case. If I do I will kill him."

"If you're going then I have no reason to be here either," Matt said, reaching for his holdall, the CD's already inside clattering.

"Matt if you come with me things are going to get _very_ dangerous, I don't want that for you," Mello replied.

"Since when have things _not _been dangerous around you?" Matt responded lightly.

"I'm never going to be able to get rid of you, am I?" Mello sighed, smiling through his tears at Matt.

"Nope," Matt replied, before hesitantly pulling Mello into a hug. He was momentarily surprised when Mello clung to him in return.

…

Linda turned away from Matt's doorway, her final act about to begin. With a deliberate step she moved down to the large and currently unoccupied kitchen, turning on all the gas rings before sinking to the floor with a lighter clutched in her hands. She sat, patiently watching the clock, hearing and smelling the room gradually fill with gas. Then once she deemed enough time had passed she raised the lighter and brought her thumb down on the striker.

Three seconds later the kitchen exploded, taking half of Wammy's House down with it, the sound of the blast carrying all the way to nearby Winchester.

…

Mello's lightning reflexes grabbed Matt and threw him out the window, still holding his bag, before diving out after him as the explosion travelled through the building. He was very grateful that they were only one storey up, as they landed heavily in the grass outside.

"Shit," Matt said, gasping for air, already rising to his feet. Mello wasn't far behind him and together they ran for the tree line. They both collapsed, their eyes fixed on the shocking scene of the now blazing house. They were soon joined by Near, who had been downstairs in his usual spot in the room by the entrance.

As the night wore on it was quickly realised that only 45 out of the original 300 orphans had survived, the rest caught in the initial blast that had taken out most of the bedrooms and the library. None of the staff had survived; their rooms were right alongside the kitchen and had stood no hope of survival.

The emergency services finally turned up and the fire crews began their battle with the blaze. No-one noticed the two boys who sidled away from the group and disappeared into the night, or the unobtrusive departure of another in an unmarked police car.

…

"That was unexpected," L murmured, as he watched the news feeds from the UK.

"What was unexpected?" Light asked from where he was taking his turn removing criminals from the world.

"It seems Linda decided to use the kitchen as the means of destroying Wammy's. The building exploded taking almost all of the occupants with her," L sighed, "Oh well, it can't be helped, I suppose it gets rid of most of our potential future problems."

"What do you mean L?" Light asked, tensing, he suddenly hoped he was wrong.

"The death toll from this explosion currently stands at 255, including Linda," L stated.

"L," Light said quietly, "when you kill someone with the Death Note they don't take people out along with themselves unless those people were specified to die in a particular way."

"Really Light?" L responded all too cheerfully, "I didn't know that."

Light shot to his feet and glared at L.

"Of course you knew it," Light screamed, "how else would all those innocent children be dead?"

L sighed and rose to his feet, coming to stand very close to Light.

"Yes I knew," L declared coolly, "they were all potential threats, Light, or people who had seen my face."

"All 255 of them?" Light hissed, "every single child?"

"Yes," L replied simply.

Light punched L twice, once in face and once in the stomach. L doubled over for a second before glaring at Light and kicking him in the stomach and the head, right on the temple. Light rocked away dazed, his vision blurring. Then L grabbed him by the throat and slammed him bodily against the wall, his grip steadily tightening. All this was observed by a slightly laughing Ryuk.

Light gasped for breath, his hands clawing at L's hand at his throat.

"Stop struggling and fighting me," L murmured in Light's ear, "and I will stop strangling you."

Light ignored him, still attempting to break free. Then, as L's grip began to tighten, he went limp.

"Good Light," L murmured, again into Light's ear, Light stiffened, "They were _my_ heirs Light, and people who knew, not just _of_ me, but knew me personally. Did you want another Linda waltzing in here?"

Light shook his head as much as he could in L's grasp. L sighed and released Light's neck. This sent Light crashing to the floor in relief.

"I left alive only those who were the least likely to try, and those who may search for us but will use less direct methods. None of them will hint to the rest of the world anything regarding us," L continued, crouching down in front of Light and brushing some of Light's hair away from his eyes, Light glared at him. He smiled sadly at Light. "I did this to protect us,"

"But they were innocent," Light whispered, refusing to meet L's eyes.

"Oh, come now Light, you can't use that line on me. Do you forget your own actions so easily?"L leaned in close to Light's face. "Surely you remember the F.B.I?"

There was silence in the room for a minute, as Light took this in. He _had_ done the same thing. He _had_ killed the innocent, and he couldn't argue the fact that they were children and it was an evil act. Deep down he knew that the instant he had heard of Wammy's House he would have done something similar.

"Gomen nasai," Light said finally, smiling at L. He was surprised to see L sag slightly with relief.

"I can't believe we fought _again_," L joked, pulling Light to his feet.

"Perhaps next time, you might consider telling me these things _before_ they occur?" Light replied.

"Sorry," L sighed, "If I knew that this was how you were going to react I would have."

Light rubbed at his neck.

"Was it really necessary to strangle me?" Light murmured.

"Yes," L said smiling, "it was the quickest method I could see to get you to stop and think for a moment."

"If you had gripped any tighter I wouldn't have been thinking at all," Light said calmly, sitting back down, "I wonder how many times we will have one of these disagreements?"

"Every time you disagree with me without finding out my reasons," L replied candidly. Light gaped at him, then he realised what he was doing and shook himself. He couldn't work out was wrong with himself lately.

"Light," L said finally, "Should you not be visiting your father around this time today?"

Light glanced at the clock; he was going to be late for the beginning of visiting hours.

"Oh yes," Light said hurriedly, "I'll just be going then."

As the lift travelled down to the foyer he couldn't help wondering what he had helped to create. Of course he knew L's plan had been perfectly logical, but all the same… Light felt something tighten painfully inside himself.

"How could _anyone_ do that to _children_?" Light whispered into the cold metallic stillness of the elevator.

He thought through everything L had said about why he had done it. Light sighed, L had known these people and so Light reasoned that must mean he had to be the one to judge. If he said these people, Light refused to think of them as children any more, were a dangerous threat, then who was Light to disagree?

As he stepped from the elevator his confident step had returned, even if the slight bruises from L's fingers hidden under his shirt felt like a collar around his neck.

…

* * *

_(1)Voulez-vous avoir de bonnes lois; brûlez les vôtres, et faites-en de nouvelle_ translates as "If you want good laws, burn those you have and make new ones." A quote from Voltaire in his book "Laws" of 1765.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer; Death Note ain't mine, but this plot is.

A/N; Beta'd by Virtualdraconium, my ever present and wonderful beta. Who has just recently had a small avalanche of chapters arrive in her inbox, I decided to begin a third story based around Matt and Mello... I am very sorry Virtualdraconium...

Anyway, here is the 7th chapter of Low Light, I am sorry it has taken me so long, but after what I did to Wammy's house last chapter I had to go and think through my plot. I hope you enjoy this new instalment and feel inclined to leave a review.

* * *

Creating the Balance Point

"Good evening," Near said quietly, as the man entered his office behind him. He smiled slightly when he saw the look of shock momentarily pass over the President's face, as he glanced from Near to the man dressed in black hiding in the shadows of the room.

"I do not recommend calling for backup," Near said, as he saw the president reach for his ever present panic button, "I am here to help you deal with Kira. We both want the same thing I assume; Kira stopped."

Near continued to stare apathetically at David, one hand playing with his locks of fine white hair, the other picking at a lose thread on the hem of his white suit. He neglected to mention his bodyguard, the president need not know of his identity.

"Just who exactly are you?" David said finally, "and how do I know this is not some test of loyalty from Kira himself."

"I apologise," Near replied, "I am not used to dealing with people in person. I am L."

"L?" David said, his eyes suddenly filling with hope, and he moved quickly to sit down at his desk. He held his head in his hands for a moment, the past two weeks in office had been the toughest in his entire political career.

"Yes," Near replied, a momentary twinge of guilt passing through him as he assumed L's identity, but he knew it was the only way. He was an unknown in the law enforcement scene, something he now deeply regretted. If only he had taken more intensive steps like Mello and Matt had done to create a standing outside of Wammy's.

"How can the US government aid you?" David asked, finally looking up.

"You do not wish me to prove my identity?" Near said, faintly surprised.

"It would not matter either way," David said, "If you managed to surpass my security it proves you have connections. This proves you are either Kira, working for Kira, or are indeed as you say L or one of his associates. Further proof is unnecessary in either case. So, how can the US government aid you?"

Near nodded in understanding, the president was far more intelligent than he had been led to believe.

"I would require access to your secret services and my choice of some of your best agents to aid me in this, of course anyone who aided me would have their names changed and their files erased. I do not want to bring unnecessary danger," Near said, "I would not require funding, as I have an ample supply of monetary funds. It is contacts I lack, now that Kira has changed his approach."

"Changed his approach?" David asked, quite shocked at this admission.

"Kira has suddenly changed from punishing small groups of criminals, all very serious offenders who have life sentences, to targeting the entire criminal population of the world. This has led of course to the submission of many world governments including your own. Kira has effectively taken the entire world hostage. I believe Kira now wants to rule the world, and has somehow found the means to do so."

David sighed, he had come to the same conclusion as to Kira's goals, but he had not noticed the sudden change in Kira's motives. It had just seemed like a natural progression to the president.

Near sighed as he left the office, his bodyguard an ever present shadow by his side; he had been forced into having a bodyguard by the British government. They were going to let him have free reign and accept him as L, but only if he took one of Britain's best operatives with him. Not even the original L had known of Terry Scott's existence.

"Can you really trust him not to break and go to Kira about you?" Terry asked as they melted away into the night.

"He won't, he hates ransoming his country to Kira. He will do as I say. If only because I am _not_ Kira," Near explained.

…

Mello and Matt were running, it was what one usually did when one had planted explosives on a door to gain access. They ducked for cover down a side corridor not a moment too soon as a blast sounded back from the direction they came and dust clouded the air.

"I think you may have overestimated how much you needed Mello," Matt sighed, looking back down the corridor, "We did need the contents of the room intact you know."

"Tch," Mello responded, grinning, "It was a six inch carbonised steel door with reinforcement. Asking it to open politely wasn't an option. What did Linda store in there anyway?"

"Her notes didn't say, though it sounded important."

"I still can't quite bring myself to believe L is alive," Mello sighed, "or that he seems to have sided with Kira."

…_Flashback…_

"_Shit," Mello said. That was all that could be said in light of what they had seen._

"_Too right," Matt murmured, his cigarette lying forgotten in the ashtray, "So what do we do now?"_

"_We investigate of course," Mello said, unwrapping a new bar of chocolate with shaking hands, "that is what Linda forgot to do."_

_Matt nodded, they both felt saddened at the loss of Linda and the others, but in their world they only had room for each other, the rest of the human race was unimportant. Except for L, L had been a pillar of support in both their lives. They had believed him lost, and now it appeared he had returned. _

_Both wondered whether they truly cared whether he had sided with Kira or not. Though the world did seem safer for 'innocents' and the world's governments were finally working together to solve some of the world's problems. Well, at least the governments that had submitted to Kira were anyway, they had begun donating money to third world countries and cutting down their carbon emissions. All had been forced to make public broadcasts saying that this was all possible due to Kira, and their sudden increase in public funds. _

_Matt and Mello were only confused over the move to destroy Wammy's and all the innocent children. If not for that move they would have immediately gone to join L. They wanted time to think, and it seemed Linda had left a trail of more evidence as she moved closer to L's position._

_So they decided to break into the safety vault at a major bank where Linda had hidden her written notes. Evidence Mello and Matt desperately wanted. One of the documents would have L's possible locations and Linda's plans. She always wrote everything down._

…_End of Flashback…_

Mello shock himself out of his reverie when he heard Matt's annoyed grunt.

"What?" he asked, between bites of his chocolate.

"Mello, how am I supposed to hack into the mainframe to break into the electronic locks of these deposit boxes if you have destroyed the electronics?" Matt responded, his voice grim.

Mello shrugged at Matt, he knew the genius hacker could get into anything, the main lines of the electronics were still there. Despite all his grouching he knew that all Matt needed was a small hint of a way in. The guy could work miracles, though Mello wondered if Matt could work miracles only because it was Mello who asked. He lounged on the floor of the vault eating his way through his chocolate, watching Matt type furiously on his laptop; the gamer always had such a strange glow in his eyes at a time like this, perhaps because it was the few times Matt felt truly alive.

Then every door in the vault clicked open.

Much to Mello's surprise Matt frowned.

"Messy," he murmured, before lighting up a cigarette, "if you hadn't blown the main board I could have opened only the ones we needed."

"This does mean we can cover our tracks, and you never know what we could find and use," Mello said, completely unrepentant for his excessive use of explosives. What could he say? He just liked making things blow up, he didn't care that he was usually far too close to the blast at the time, it just added to the excitement.

He began rifling through all that Linda had left in safekeeping here. _So she'd kept a diary had she_, Mello realised suddenly, and in respect for his dead friend laid it aside. It was something to be looked at only if the rest of the documentation was unhelpful.

Matt sighed and gathered up the documents as Mello threw them aside, Mello was always so emphatic in his activities. Then Mello stopped, his gaze fixed on something in his hands. Matt looked over his shoulder. They were photographs of L with, what Matt and Mello had learned to recognise as Light Yagami, the man who L had suspected to be Kira. They were chained together, but both were laughing at whoever held the camera. In the next, Light's hair was being rumpled by L as he tried to fend him off. The innocence was quite a contrast to current world events.

"I've never seen L this happy," Mello whispered.

"I don't believe I have ever seen him mess around with anyone myself," Matt said quietly, "so this guy makes him happier than he has ever been."

"Then what shall we do now?"

"Up to you Mello," Matt said, still leaning against Mello's back. Mello chuckled slightly, he knew Matt would leave it all to him.

"How about we go and talk to L about this?" Mello said then.

"What? Just wander over and say 'hey L' what'd you do that to Wammy's for?"

"I was not thinking of walking in there. Look what happened to Linda," Mello sighed, "No I think we should annoy him a little first, so he comes and gets us."

"Isn't that dangerous, I mean he knows are real names."

"Would I have suggested it if it wasn't dangerous?"

Matt's laughter filled the room.

…

L sat staring at the wall, he had _strangled_ Light. He hadn't meant to but he had felt so unclean after seeing Wammy's on the screen, that the look of horror on Light's face directed at him had made him snap. He had strangled him just to get him to stop and think for a second; he _always_ took the most logical course of action. Unfortunately logic didn't seem to apply to a relationship. He sighed and went back to eating his cake, Light was a logical man himself; he would realise why L had acted as he had.

…

Light sat stoically by his father's bedside watching him sleep. He sighed, he hadn't quite believed what his father had just told him. His father planned to retire from the NPA, this second heart attack and the loss of the use of his legs meant he could never police out on the streets again. He would be stuck behind a desk for the rest of his career.

Light raised his hand to his neck and rubbed, the bruises still there slightly, he was grateful none of his family had noticed. He didn't want to return to the Investigation Headquarters, he knew he had left Matsuda there to his own devices, but that shouldn't be a problem. He couldn't face L at the moment; he'd felt momentarily confident as he left, but the prospect of going back… Of course Ryuk hovering nearby wasn't helping.

He shook his head slightly, this feeling was illogical. Steadfastly, he stood up and made his way out of the hospital to the nearest tube station, then let his feet guide him back inside the building. He checked on Matsuda, who was apparently overjoyed by his visit. The gun wound was healing well, but he ordered Matsuda to keep resting as the wound was quite close to a major artery. Matsuda did insist on him staying for a while to teach him more chess.

Light was beginning to warm to Matsuda now he was on his side, so he stayed and had to admit that the guy picked up chess moves pretty quickly.

"Shall we attempt a game then?" Light asked, after showing Matsuda a few more blocking manoeuvres, traps and opening gambits. He had wanted to pat Matsuda on the head when he actually begun taking notes!

Matsuda nodded, he felt quite nervous about this. He didn't want Light to laugh at him.

"Matsuda," Light said, "this is a _game. _Don't take it so seriously, I was teaching you to relax, not to stress you out more."

Matsuda sagged, were his nerves that obvious?

"It's just Light-sama is such a good teacher, I didn't want to let him down," Matsuda replied, laughing slightly in embarrassment.

"You could never let me down," Light replied, silently preening at the 'Light-sama', "as long as you try your best, or at least have fun while playing, I wouldn't mind what you do. Just keep to the rules."

Matsuda laughed and made his first move, his nerves completely gone. He basked in Light's attention; no-one besides his mother had ever paid him so much positive attention before.

…

Light finally exited Matsuda's room to find L stood outside waiting for him. Light nodded in greeting and began his journey to the kitchen, he desperately needed tea. L fell into step beside him, though he said nothing. He felt uncomfortable around Light suddenly, he supposed it could be called embarrassment.

"Would you like one as well?" Light asked, a picture of civility as he began to prepare the tea.

"Yes please," L replied, moving closer, he reached out to Light, "Light-kun, I-"

Light flinched as L reached out towards him, seeming equally as shocked by his reaction as L was. He turned and reached to put the teabags back on the shelf.

"Yes L?" Light said, his voice uncharacteristically bright. L's arms suddenly came around his waist and pulled him close.

"I am sorry Light," L whispered in Light's ear, "I am always used to doing the most logical thing in a situation. I have not had much experience with people. Of course I am perfectly aware that strangling the person you _love_ is not the best of options so I apologise, I did not mean to hurt you, please forgive me."

Light stood there for a moment weighing L's words. Then he turned and placed his hands on L's shoulders eyeing him critically. The shame at his actions was reflected in L's eyes, Light sighed.

"I forgive you L," Light said smiling, "but if you ever do something like this again…"

He was cut off as L reached up and began kissing each bruise on Light's neck. Brief tender kisses that made Light shiver slightly as the skin began to tingle, forming a collar of sensation of an entirely different kind.

Light sighed, and dropped his arms down to L's waist, pulling him ever so slightly closer. L worked at Light's clothing, pushing his shirt and jacket away to give him better access to Light's neck. This pinned Light's arms down behind his back. Now only his tie adorned the upper half of Light's body. L smirked at his creation, before returning to kissing Light's neck, this time with increasing force.

Then he pulled back, looking up into Light's face. Light's eyes were closed and he leaned towards L as he pulled away.

"Light sit down," L asked, running a hand down Light's chest.

"What did you say?" Light gasped, he genuinely hadn't heard. He yelped then as L grabbed his loosened tie and pulled him over to a chair, before pushing him into it. This brought him back to reality.

"L," he growled, glaring, "don't do-"

L cut him off very simply by placing his knee between Light's legs and leaning forward to kiss Light, his tongue effectively cutting off anything Light had to say about this, one hand still holding the tie. Light arched into L, all objections he had forgotten.

"You were saying Light?" L murmured, as he pulled away.

"You may continue," Light replied, smiling up at L, this was a strange form of apology, but he wasn't about to complain. He was severely disappointed when L's next move was to get up and move around the back of the chair and begin massage Light's shoulders, his movements slow and tender.

"I wish to replace Light's bad memory of my hands at his neck, with many good memories," L said suddenly, supplying a reason to Light's questioning mind at such attention. Light smiled again and closed his eyes; everything was going well again.

…

Near looked up from his current batch of toys as he watched his recruits walk in, he smiled at them imperceptibly.

"Welcome to the new base of operations for the capture of Kira," Near said, "you have been chosen because I consider you the best based on your past work. Together we can free the world."

He wasn't in favour of such speeches, but Terry had been quite insistent that he say something like this. Apparently working in such situations required more than aptitude and orders, he had to make them feel relied upon.

"The files on the table will tell you everything you need to know about the case," Near continued, "as you will see Kira is nothing more than a murderous human. I had hoped that he could have been apprehended and brought to justice in front of the world, but that may not be possible as the world begins to turn against us. Therefore we must be prepared to find some way to eliminate Kira outside of the normal realms of justice.

_Kira_, Near thought, _I will find you and I will eliminate you. I will beat L at this and I will beat Mello in finding you. I will win._

_

* * *

  
_


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer; The same as always.

A/N; Beta'd by Virtualdraconium, who really is quite the wonderful beta.

I hope you enjoy this latest instalment of Low Light, while writing this story I finally developed the depth of this plot line for this story. It is going in a completely different direction than I first expected, but this direction is far better than what I had originally planned. I just hope you all continue to enjoy it.

So please read, enjoy and review!

* * *

Never Kill the Messenger

"Light-sama may I ask you a question?" Matsuda said quietly, his hand moving to advance his bishop diagonally along the board, checking Light's king, "check."

Light smiled slightly, Matsuda was learning fast, but then he had not had much to occupy his time with lately. He couldn't leave the building until his wound had healed.

"Of course you may ask your question," Light said, smiling his most winning smile at Matsuda, "and please stop acting so worried around me. I will not hurt you for speaking your mind; that would be an abasement of your human rights." Then he swiftly moved his king out of check.

Matsuda sighed as he saw Light's move, it tore apart a trap he had carefully been laying for the past ten moves.

"Well I suppose it is not really a question…I was wondering how I could improve relations between myself and L," Matsuda sighed, beginning his plan B in the downfall of Light's king, "I was wondering if you knew of any way."

"What suddenly made you ask me this?" Light replied, his shock slightly genuine he hadn't realised L had still been ignoring Matsuda since the incident with Linda.

"Whenever you leave, he leaves the room if I am there and doesn't talk to me, I don't think he likes me," Matsuda looked quite downcast.

Light sat there thinking through L's actions as the game continued. He was quite surprised over L's behaviour, it was unusual. Especially as L had talked quite highly of Matsuda when they were planning the removal of the team.

"I shall talk to him Matsuda," Light said finally, then upon seeing the stricken look on Matsuda's face added, "I am sure this is all just a misunderstanding. Don't worry."

Light then reached down and made his next and final move on the chess board; by checkmating Matsuda's king. Matsuda sagged, then winced slightly as his damaged arm made contact with the arm of the chair.

"You shouldn't be neglecting your pain medication," Light sighed, quickly coming over with the tablets and some water.

"I was too engrossed in the game," Matsuda mumbled, "I really thought I had you beaten this time."

"You nearly had until I saw your ploy a few moves before the end, you left your defence too wide open at that point as you moved into attack. So I took advantage," Light explained, and found he wasn't lying. Matsuda really had almost beaten him at chess…

His hand came up and patted Matsuda on the head as the man beamed up at him, the pain in his arm forgotten.

…

Near looked over the list of supplies his investigation needed. He checked over the details of the trust fund, he could see nothing suspicious about it… and the only one who knew of it, L, was dead. Briefly he wished Matt was here; he was sure the computer nerd would be able to spot any hidden code.

He sighed and finalised his orders, watching as the fund was gradually depleted of the first amount of money. He doubted whether this account would ever empty of money, the amount left by L to each student was so great.

Near turned back to his most recent dice tower, details of L's investigations into Kira flashing up onto the screens around him. He found that he agreed with L's estimation of Light Yagami.. It was highly probable that this person was Kira, the profile matched too well. Either way, to reach his final goal of removing Kira from the world, Light Yagami would be his first obstacle.

He stared up at the picture of Light Yagami… He wondered if, in another dimension, had they ever met would they have been friends? They seemed to share the same emotionless quality and logical perspectives of the world; at least that was the way he appeared in L's private notes on Light. Intrinsically they had a lot in common, it was almost a shame this man was the person most likely to be Kira…

What was he thinking?!? This sort of thinking was irrational and would get him nowhere. He turned back to his dice.

…

As Light entered the room where L was ensconced, steadily eating his way through a cheesecake, the computer set up on the table gave a small chime and began to display what looked to be bank details.

He lowered himself onto the sofa next to L, looking curiously at the data L was now perusing, then he looked curiously at L who had begun to laugh lightly.

"It appears that our first competition has raised its head," L explained to Light, "one of the survivors of Wammy's has decided to chase after Kira. I had not believed he was motivated enough to do this. Apparently I was wrong."

"Oh?" Light said, L had explained that only the most dangerous heirs had been removed, the ones most likely to give the data to the government or to re-enact Linda's stunt.

"His name is Nate River, though he goes by the alias of Near. If we want we could eliminate him now, it would save us a lot of bother in the future," L said, phrasing this as a question. He most definitely wanted Light to still feel in control of this, L knew he had pushing Light too much in this.

"I have a better idea," Light said, "If we have no competition we will have the world in the palm of our hands in only a few months. Competition will help lengthen this process and eventually strengthen our position."

L nodded in agreement, he actually hadn't looked at it that way.

"So, do we sit here and do nothing?" L asked; he was curious as to what Light would do. His plans were always so interesting, and Light had not reacted well to the conclusion of L's last plan after all.

"Well, if he is our competition, we might as well throw down the gauntlet. Why wait for him to come to us. Let's send this Nate River a message." Light laughed, the tone evil.

"Surely that would reveal my existence," L said.

"Has L really forgotten how I send my messages?" Light replied, still laughing.

Comprehension immediately dawned on L's features, and he grinned at Light.

"What shall this message say?" L chuckled, "and I wonder if I could hack his system, just to see his face."

…

Gevanni walked briskly down the corridor towards the double doors in front of him. He was late, not by choice, but by traffic, and it annoyed him. He hated being late; and to be late in the first week of working for L? Well it was perhaps the most unfortunate timing that could have occurred.

He murmured an apology as he entered, and was shocked to see the white haired teenager wave a hand dismissively.

"Traffic is traffic, you are here now, so now you can work," the ghostly youth stated from his position on the floor. Mr Scott, the man who seemed to always be hovering around the genius stared at him implacably. Gevanni didn't trust the man, he barely spoke, and it felt as though he was judging everyone in the room, always finding them wanting.

Wordlessly he took his station and continued familiarising himself with the case, he was still astounded over how much data there was to slog through, and the information about the Death Note was almost too surreal to believe, except that it _was_ the cause of all of this. He sighed, he had preferred the world when it was strictly scientific.

…

Three hours passed with barely any comment between the operatives Near had picked to form the Special Provision for Kira, or "SPK".

Then, very calmly, Shawn Dunleavy rose to his feet and moved towards Near. Half way towards him he stopped suddenly and sank to his knees brought out a pocket knife and cut deeply into the index finger of his right hand. His gaze settled on the appendage for a brief moment before he leant down and began to move the finger over the smooth surface of the white floor.

"What's happening?" Gevanni murmured; his face a picture of complete shock.

"Kira," Near replied blandly. His fingers tensed nervously as he thought back yet again over all the images of him that had ever existed… No, he was safe. He glanced at the others, they didn't _appear_ different yet.

"What?" Gevanni said harshly, before going up to Shawn and shaking his shoulder roughly, "Hey snap out of it man!"

Shawn merely shrugged him off and continued moving his finger across the floor. Neat rivulets of blood left in its wake.

Gevanni looked down.

"Near, he is writing a message to you."

Gevanni jumped startled by the voice, Mr Scott was standing almost directly behind him.

Near rose and approached the oblivious and scrawling figure to look down at the message. His eyes widened as he read.

"I can say with absolute certainty that Kira knows at least two other names of people here," Near said, his voice still calm.

"How do you know that?"

"He just wrote them down," Near replied, his expression one of sadness, "I am sorry." He looked up at Ellickson Thomas and Larry Conners, his gaze sad and slightly apprehensive.

"Oh God no," Larry Conners murmured, before tipping forward his hands clutching at his chest, his eyes widening at the pain. Then they dulled forever. Seconds later a frozen Ellickson joined him in his fate. Rester ran to them, calling out to them, shaking them, trying in vain to bring a spark of life back to their corpses.

Near stood motionless, except for one hand that fiddled nervously with his white hair, as he stared down at the bloody scrawl. Then he backed away his gaze flitting around the room, it was obvious to the others that he was suddenly quite, quite terrified. Seconds later Mr Scott powered into action, a scanning device of some sort appearing from inside his long black coat as he walked purposefully around the room eyeing the device critically. Then he turned back to Near and shrugged, he couldn't find any devices. The others strained to see what in the message had made them both so nervous.

Shawn suddenly rose to his feet, the blood running from his finger to splash onto the cool floor. His dull gaze fell on Near and he stalked towards the boy. The other's stood frozen in shock, the events occurring before their eyes too much to comprehend. Their gazes passing from the corpses of their dead comrades, to the message, to Near.

Near froze in shock as the man approached, then shuddered as the bloody finger trailed down his cheek, a cool laugh rising from the victim's throat. Then Shawn reached back into his suit for the pen knife and, his gaze fixed with the petrified person's in front of him, very calmly cut deeply across both his wrists. He smiled at Near then, his blood now pouring from his wrists, before drawing the now whimpering man into a deadly embrace, his blood soaking into the white suit, before pooling on the floor around Near's feet.

Mr Scott dove across the room, Rester close on his heels as the pen knife flashed into view while Shawn cut into his own wrists. They gripped Shawn's arms and attempted to pull him away from Near, who was pushing desperately at the man's chest. Shawn's grip was absolute till the end, only releasing Near when, with one last gasp, he finally collapsed, de-sanguinated, to the floor.

"Near," Terry Scott said quietly, gripping the shaking boys shoulders, his fingers slipping on the blood soaked fabric.

Near didn't reply, his cool resolve and mask against the world slipping. His mind screaming at what had just occurred in front of him, where, for only the second time in his life, the real world had run an icy finger up his spine.

"Near," Terry repeated, shaking Near slightly.

Near tried to respond, his mouth opening and closing slightly. His eyes stayed focussed on the corpses surrounding him.

"Near." Rester said louder, joining his voice with Terry Scott's.

"Near."

"Near."

"Near."

"NEAR."

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer; Death Note not mine, I believe that is clear enough.

A/N; You didn't think I would leave you hanging for long after last post did you?

Beta'd by Virtualdraconium who threw the rule book at me, the Death Note one, to make sure I got this right. For which I am very grateful I don't want any of you getting annoyed with me because I broke one of those pesky little Death Note rules. Thank you for all your help over this my good and dear friend.

I hope you enjoy, and I hope you review!

* * *

The Left Hand of God

_Good Morning Near,_

_I hope that you are well this morning, and my impromptu greeting has not interrupted any important investigation work this man was pursuing. I would not wish to deprive you of your important information, but when I realised that you were attempting to find me I knew I it would be remiss of me not to greet you._

_As is my way, I shall prove to you my identity, as if this were not enough already. I believe you have an Ellickson Thomas and a Larry Conners working for you, yes? I also know that if you had been more thorough in your investigation you would have realised they were perhaps not quite as virtuous as you were led to believe. I shall say no more on that._

_I must say that taking on L's persona in front of the American President really was quite rude. L was a far more worthy opponent to my righteous justice than you could ever hope to achieve. I suggest you admit your real identity to him soon, as well as to those who are blindingly following you in the hope that you are L, or I will tell him who you are. I assure you the president will escape retribution for his transgression, I believe in second chances._

_Oh, and Near, you should stop twirling your white hair so much, you could damage it. _

_Yours Faithfully,_

_Kira._

…

Terry Scott stared down at the message that was steadily drying on the white tiles. He had never truly believed in the power of the Death Note, but he believed now. It was terrifying. Near was ensconced in his room with Rester, the man had some knowledge of Psychology so should be able to bring Near out of the shell he had sunk into. Somehow Kira had known just what strings to pull, Near had seemed almost unaffected until Shawn had cut his wrists, that had been the major blow.

Terry sighed, they had taken every precaution. What had gone wrong? How had Kira found them, and so quickly too?!?! His major worry was that Kira knew the names of the rest of them and was merely playing with them; he discounted this as being unlikely despite his concern. Judging by his past actions Kira would have eradicated them swiftly and silently if he had known of them all. The three that had fallen today were merely unlucky, and Kira was merely lucky in having stumbled across Near's investigation.

…

Near was sat, immobile, on the edge of a chair, not even playing with his white locks of hair, blood gradually drying to a darkened finish on his clothing. Rester sat before him, his face a mask of worry.

Rester had lost a friend today, but this was not the time for mourning the dead, but for taking care of those still alive. One of those people was Near, the person who had brought this team together.

Rester frowned at this, he had been led to believe that this teenager was L, the Great Detective, but this was apparently not the case. Though he had to admit the kid _was _clever and had found quite a few new leads in relation to finding Kira. Plus, the British government had sent one of their best operatives with him as a bodyguard. That showed some level of ability surely.

Rester had been quite shocked when Mr Scott had admitted who he worked for as they had coaxed Near into his room. Rester still had his doubts, but he knew any investigation would be fruitless; Terry Scott was doubtless not his real name.

…

Near fought against his memories, the images of his mother and brother playing over and over in his mind. How had Kira _known?_ The death of Shawn today had been too close to his mother's for Near's liking. He found this gap in his knowledge terrifying. He could feel the blood drying on his skin where it has soaked through the fabric of his suit, but he was unable to move. Unable to erase and eradicate the substance that was once again marring his pale skin, and causing so much fear in him.

Then, finally, his brain registered Rester staring at him, and he snapped back to reality. Acting like this would just not do.

"I apologise if my behaviour shocked you," Near said quietly, "but it brought back all too vivid memories of my family. I know that in such an important case my reaction was unforgivable. I assure you that I am once again fine."

Rester looked at Near in shock at his words. Near sighed then and rose to his feet, heading towards the bathroom.

"I will rejoin you once I am… clean."

"Your reaction was quite understandable," Rester responded quickly, "There is nothing to forgive."

Near paused at the door, looking back at Rester with barely disguised gratitude.

"Thank you."

…

"I still wish I could have seen his face," L sighed, his head resting on Light's shoulder as he read what Light had written in the Death Note, "You can be incredibly creepy when you want to be."

Light laughed slightly then.

"Creepy?"

"You question whether writing a message to someone in another's blood upon the floor is creepy?"

"I suppose you have a point there L," Light said, a slight chuckle caught in his throat, "but it was the only writing material I knew the man would have readily available."

"Yes, that is true, but he was sat at a computer. He had to be because you sent him the message by email, why not just use the computer?" L asked.

"I like making a statement," Light smiled.

L laughed then, the slight sound echoing next to Light's ear.

"You write quite flamboyantly too," L added, his voice thoughtful, "so many swishes and flicks of the pen."

Light raised an eyebrow at that, then flicked his pen back positioned between finger and thumb, point first, aiming for L. L easily grabbed the offending pen and the hand that held it, still laughing.

"What do you think his next move will be?" Light asked, suddenly serious once more.

"Well, when he has recovered from the psychological trauma of his family's death resurfacing in his mind, I expect he will come after us with all his force. Of course, he will actually only be coming after _you. _However, I believe it might cause him to act irrationally, making it more interesting for us," L stated, finally pulling away. He wanted more cake.

"Great, another person to hound at my heels," Light sighed melodramatically, truth be told he was enjoying this. It was good to finally have competition again. Even if he had all the aces this time, after all he had L; the one man who knew all the names of everyone who lived, well, _had_ lived,, at Wammy's.

"It appears, Light, that we have a rush on the trust funds this week," L laughed. "Matt and Mello have both accessed their accounts today." Then L laughed as he looked at what they had bought.

"What?" Light asked sharply, he was tired of L withholding information. L saw Light's expression and winced, he was annoying Light again. He still hadn't worked out how to do this relationship 'thing'.

"Matt and Mello have booked tickets to Japan, I think they are on to us," L explained.

"Why are you laughing about that?" Light responded.

"Because they _hate _Near, and they _adore_ me, they would always follow any instruction I sent them without comment," L explained, "I believe that they may be looking for me, and with care will join our cause."

"It's always good to have more followers," Light agreed, smiling widely.

"You have _such _a God Complex," L replied.

"It seems to be working well enough so far," Light said completely unaffected, he knew the world was gradually accepting him as God.

L looked at Light in complete shock at this casual admittance, before laughing quite loudly.

"Only with my help Light-kun," L said through his laughter.

Surprisingly Light only looked thoughtful, he seemed to be considering L's words.

"That would make you the Left Hand of God then," Light stated, as he came to his conclusion.

L once again looked at Light stunned, but this time he was not laughing.

Then, despite all their contingency plans, something happened that they did not expect.

...

In Japan, it seemed that far more people than expected wanted Kira in power. It also seemed that Kira's supporters were far more organised than anyone had expected…

The supporters of Kira stormed the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors in a coordinated and controlled attack. They moved through the two buildings in an organised wave, barely a word spoken between them, as they took power. Silently herding all the people they found together and zip-tying their hands. Their own people were in charge of security that day, and therefore the local police force was not alerted. In each prefecture, each government building, no matter how small, was taken over and the officials 'arrested'.

In mere hours the political system of Japan was in tatters. The Prime Minister and his closest political allies were under guard and those who had not been in the central buildings had their houses stormed and were under house arrest. The operation happened silently and without media coverage, the supporters of Kira understanding his need for secrecy.

…

The leader of the group moved forward, his black booted feet resounding on the floor. His mouth was set in a smirk, he couldn't think of a better message to send than this. Calmly he removed a bar of chocolate from beneath his leather jacket and with great aplomb peeled off the foil and cracked off a segment with his teeth; the crack of the chocolate echoing in the room actually made the group of hostages in front of him flinch. He turned to glare at his ever present shadow, he knew that he would be better at this form of speech than him. The red head sighed and moved forward.

"None of you are in danger if you cooperate. We merely wish to give Kira the chance to take his rightful place in government if he so desires as you have not given him the chance. You already knew this to be the want of the people, but have not acted. So now we act for you."

There was not a whisper of comment from the group in front of them, they seemed to understand their situation. Some actually had small satisfied smiles on their faces. Satisfied with this themselves the duo turned away and headed for the office they had procured.

"Is the line secure?" The blonde chocolate eater asked once they had entered.

"Quite, quite secure."

"Then we might as well get this phone call over and done with. It will be nice to know once and for all if he truly is alive."

"My projection is that it is 99 percent certain."

"I know, else we would never had done this."

"I don't know about that my friend; you enjoy extravagant plans like this."

…

L and Light were discussing the police. More precisely they were discussing how best to reintegrate Light and Matsuda back into any police investigations that may occur. Of course this was unlikely, since the police department had stopped their official lines of inquiry long ago, but it was something they had to consider. Particularly now that Near was on the move.

Then an alarm sounded through the room, followed by the sound of a ringing telephone issuing from L's laptop.

L flew into action, his fingers speeding over the keys as he attempted to find an explanation for the sudden disturbance. Light came to stand behind him, his expression serious, L rarely typed this fast.

"I did not expect this, Matt and Mello have hacked my system to contact us," L murmured, "Should I answer the call?"

"Yes, but keep the screen blank, can you run the programme you usually run to disguise voice?"

"If this is them that would merely confirm their suspicions anyway."

"Answer the call then," Light sighed, pulling over his chair and sitting down next to L.

Seconds later L answered the call… with picture.

"Yo L," Mello said smiling, not a smirk, a real genuine smile.

"Hey," Matt mumbled, he looked relieved.

"Matt, Mello," L said calmly, a small smile hidden behind his thumb.

Matt and Mello's gaze flicked to Light.

"So you must be Light Yagami, the man who would be God," Mello laughed.

Light nodded.

"May I ask the reason for this delightful call?" L asked, breaking the silence.

"We want to join you," Mello stated, "Now we know that you're alive, we want to help you."

"Prove it," Light said coldly.

"Will the entire Japanese government do?" Matt laughed, relaying the security footage from the National Diet Building.

L and Light looked at the footage in stunned astonishment.

"How did you manage this? There hasn't been any news of this anywhere, not even from the police," Light said, moving to bring up the most recent reports. All was silent.

Matt and Mello laughed.

"I take it we pass?" Matt queried.

"With flying colours," L replied.

"The only question is; what we do now?" Light sighed, ever the voice of reason.

…


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer; Death Note isn't mine, which may be noticeable by the extreme change in storyline.

A/N; Hello!

Here we go into the main plot of the story! Hope you all enjoy this new chapter of Low Light.

This chapter has, as always with my work, been wonderfully beta'd by VirtualDraconium, without whom I would have broken so many Death Note rules and been killed by the Shinigami King!

I also have a **poll** for all you lovely readers. I have moved so quickly with this story I have been considering writing a recap chapter, with a timeline for all the major players involved, so everyone knows where this stands. However I will only include it if you guys want it as I know that they can annoy some people. So please head over to my profile and vote!

Oh and I run on reviews, seriously they make me all warm and fuzzy and power my muse. So be kind and give me one?

* * *

Choices and Chances

"What do we do now?" Light repeated, quite stunned by the actions of Matt and Mello, he never knew two people could be so bold.

For once L looked speechless at Light's question, his gaze was still focused on the footage Matt and Mello were sending over; showing what was happening in each prefecture. The duo looked quite smug.

"Matt, Mello," L said suddenly, "I need to arrange some things here, I will need this line. We will call you back." L cut the link and turned to face Light, he sighed. Then said, "I really don't know Light, I really don't know."

Light looked at L in utter astonishment; this was entirely unexpected. _L is clueless as to how to proceed!_ Though amazed, Light quickly came to the conclusion that it had been far too long since he'd been in control, and made a decision.

"I'll take over the Japanese government," Light said quickly, "We can use this building as the centre for my government, that way we can keep a better eye on them, and allow you access to the data more easily. Many countries have already accepted my authority, well, Kira's authority, so my takeover here is unlikely to be challenged."

L gawked at Light, he had never considered this possibility; all his life he had sought to work in the shadows, so to act so blatantly was beyond him. Then he realised Light was waiting for a reply and he didn't look patient. But then, time _was _of the essence wasn't it.

"If Light-kun has confidence in his abilities to do this, then I will trust in your decision," L said slowly, for once feeling nervous, "But have you given any thought on how to secure your identity? Are you willing to reveal yourself as Kira?"

"Not yet; I'm planning to take a leaf out your book L," Light said smiling, "I am going to wear a mask. Though I will pick something far more sophisticated than you."

"I get the impression you have been planning this," L whispered; the fire which was now glowing in Light's eyes was making the hairs on the back of his neck rise, though whether this was in anticipation or nervousness he did not know.

"This was the final end plan since I first had the Death Note. I have been preparing since then. All the items I need are hidden in plain sight. Shall I show you?"

L nodded, he was still in shock, so when Light grabbed him by the hand he mutely followed. Besides, his innate curiosity would have had him following Light anyway.

Light whirled around in the bedroom pulling items out of every crevice, the number of items surprising L, he had seen one or two of these items before, but had thought nothing much of them. In a matter of moments they were laid out on the bed. A pure white suit, with matching white accessories, except the cufflinks which were shining silver, a long white cloak with a high collar, a white wig and a mask. The mask was… well L couldn't resist moving over to pick it up.

It was soft, no make that _extremely _soft satin. It came under the definition of white only because there was no other available colour. It wasn't a complete mask, the mouth and most of the cheeks would be clearly visible. L smiled, it would certainly hinder anyone with shinigami eyes from identifying Light and would hide his identity.

"Well?" Light asked, he looked quite proud of himself.

"It's very white Light-kun," L commented.

Light sighed at this, mumbling about how he shouldn't have asked L in the first place what had he expected? Then instead of getting changed moved around the room and brought out an identical set, but this time all in black.

"If Light-kun thinks I am going with him, he is sorely mistaken," L said, still holding the white mask in his hands.

"This isn't for you L, this is for Matsuda," Light replied, finally beginning to get changed.

"For Matsuda?!" L gasped.

"Yes, I want someone with me who I can trust, he is a very accurate shot with a pistol," Light said, sounding distracted as he sorted out his cufflinks. L knew he could never dress as fast as Light could into a suit.

"Well that makes sense, but how did you get all this organised? I never saw any of this enter the building!" L questioned, stepping back hurriedly as the cloak brushed past him, "and why a cloak Light-kun?"

"I bought everything separately from different stores on different days and you don't always watch me on the cameras, sometimes you have to fetch cake. The time you fetch cake is appallingly predictable," Light said calmly, picking out a pair of pale brown shoes to wear; white shoes would have been going too far, "The cloak because it goes well with the outfit, and this is the 21st century not many people wear cloaks. At this point I want to stand out, without being recognised."

Light bent to start putting his shoes on, but was batted away by L, who knelt to tie Light's laces, smiling when he heard the gasp of surprise from Light to have L kneeling, quite literally, at his feet.

"Don't want this suit getting unnecessarily creased do we?" L said calmly, lifting Light's other foot to push the shoe on before pulling the laces tight and tying a smart bow.

Light was torn between patting L on the head or simply smirking down at this semblance of victory, it really was quite surreal, particularly as L had his head bowed to tie the bow. Then he gulped, L stood up trailing his hand up the inside of Light's leg.

"It's a nice suit Light-kun," L said smiling, his hand never quite reaching the destination Light had been tensing for it to reach. L's grin widened when he saw the faintest glimmer of disappointment in Light's eyes.

"Thank you," Light said, "though how much that means coming from someone who wears the same jeans and t-shirt type for months without variation…"

"There is a difference between knowing about and applying one's knowledge of fashion," L sighed, "and talking of applying fashion, don't you think you should be dressing someone else right now?"

Light frowned at the tone of L's voice as he said this and his previous promise to Matsuda resurfaced in his mind.

"L… What do you have against Matsuda?" Light asked quietly, trying to keep his tone gentle.

L started slightly, seemingly surprised that Light had seen his feelings.

"I have nothing against _Matsuda," _L replied, evading the question.

"L, what's going on? Please tell me." Light sighed, hanging his head, he felt like he was always having to plead with L to get any information, it was depressing.

L took a pace away, he was used to Light trying to punch him, or arguing back when he evaded questions or didn't give information, but this look of utter defeat… he'd done it again hadn't he... Why did he keep finding this relationship thing so difficult? L sighed, and decided to be honest.

"I guess it's because I am jealous of all the time you spend with him, all the attention you show him, how much you _talk _to him," L said in a rush, "you don't talk to me, we only seem to spend time together when the Death Note is involved!"

"That's what you think?" Light said, then reached forward to pull L to him and into an embrace, his face close to L's, "YOU IDIOT!"

L flinched at the shout that was so close to his ear and tried to pull away, his face dark.

"I spend time with him, because whenever you and I are in the same room I try and initiate conversation and you don't give meaningful replies, almost as if you hate small talk. You didn't seem to care whether I was there or not," Light said harshly, "so I have been spending time with Matsuda because I felt like you didn't want me there, like I was just getting in your way!" He actually shook L slightly as he said this.

"Oh," L replied, suddenly seeing it from Light's perspective.

"_Yes, _'oh' L," Light sighed, moving away.

L's hand grabbed his sleeve.

"Light, I have never spent much time with other people, I don't know _how_ to act around them, particularly when I think I might be in _love_ with them a-"

"L I-"

"I'M NOT FINISHED," L shot back, Light swallowed and nodded slightly, "and when I see that person spending more time with someone else; someone who fawns over them, it makes me quite annoyed. Light, I will tell you this. **You. Are. Mine. **No-one else's and I am very possessive of what and _who_ I own."

L had turned as he said this, and now reached up and ran his hand through the stunned brunette's hair, then gently pulled his head down. Light resisted.

"I don't belong to anyone L. I refuse to be a possession."

"I didn't say I was giving you a choice," L replied smiling, before dragging Light into a deeply possessive kiss, easily dominating Light. Light sagged into L as the kiss continued, bringing his arms up to pull Light closer.

"Not going to fight me on this Light?" L laughed into Light's ear, "If you don't I will _never_ let you go."

Light's arms tightened around L at his words as he tried to think this through.

"No, I'm not going to fight you on this L," Light whispered, wondering at himself for saying this, "because… because I love you as well."

L kissed Light again, though this time his touch was gentle, almost letting Light lead the kiss.

"I believe," L said slowly, unwilling to break this mood, "that we have gotten quite distracted, and you need to dress Matsuda appropriately."

"Yes, you're right," Light sighed and released L, briefly wondering what he had lined himself up for; he had just agreed to being L's property in some way… He decided it probably was best not to dwell, he had already made the move.

Light gathered up the black costume from the bed, and with L leading to open the doors for him, though not offering to carry anything, except for the white mask he was still holding, he made his way to Matsuda's room.

Thankfully, Matsuda was up and reading a book, though he looked quite startled to see the two of them enter, and at what Light was carrying, and what Light was _wearing_.

"Matsuda," Light said kindly, "I need your help."

"Of course," Matsuda said smiling, eager to be of assistance, "What with?"

"The Japanese government has been taken hostage by Kira supporters, they have invited him to take over and meet with them," L responded, "I can not accompany Light-kun to ensure his safety, but we were wondering if you felt able to do so."

L smiled warmly at Matsuda then, he had no reason to feel jealous of the policeman now, Light was his.

"I definitely feel able to do so," Matsuda said, elated. "It'll be nice to go outside for a while, and my arm is nearly completely healed. I take it the black suit is for me?"

"Yes it is," Light replied, this time beating L to the punch, "we need to be quick about this, time is running out."

"I shall inform our contacts about what is happening," L said suddenly and exited the room, he had realised that Matt and Mello were still waiting for a reply and Mello was quite the impatient teenager. L also didn't want to see the commotion caused in dressing Matsuda. It was only when he got back to the main room he realised he was still holding Light's mask.

L shrugged, Light would just have to fetch it, after all L had a call to make.

…

In a surprisingly short space of time Light and Matsuda joined him. L had to admit it was quite a striking image; Light in all white almost gleaming, while Matsuda followed behind him in deepest black. The black mask that adorned his face melded perfectly with his hair, the black cloak that fell from his shoulders, slightly shorter than Light's, only reaching his ankles, not the floor.

L felt a small twinge of jealousy at Matsuda accompanying Light in this, but he had to stay here. In a way he got to be Light's Guardian Angel over the surveillance cameras, he already had a list of the politicians ready in case they tried anything, and Matt had sent him the names and faces of all the operatives under Mello's control.

"I need the mask L," Light said as he walked over to L and held out his hand. L smiled then his expression sly.

"I will help you put it on," L said still smiling, before leaning back in the chair in a way that he was not moving any time soon.

"You can't possibly reach from down there," Light sighed, then he yelped slightly as L used his still outstretched hand to pull Light off balance, so L could force him to his knees.

"Much better, I can reach now," L said smiling down at Light who was now glaring at him.

"Whatever happened to not getting creases in this suit? If the knees are dirty..." Light left the threat hanging in the air as L reached forward, however he was holding something other than the mask.

"Face-paint?" Light gasped, he looked appalled.

"Light-kun really hasn't thought enough about how he is going to protect his identity," L said smiling, "so I am helping." Then before Light could reply he applied the white paint to Light's face, even brushing Light's eyelids with his thumb so he could paint those. L only smiled more at the glare he received when he turned Light's lips white.

"Well at least I match the suit," Light sighed, his pallid face unrecognisable even to L now.

"Lean forward so I can put the mask on you as well."

Light gave in and let L tip his head forward slightly so he could tie the mask into place. Light frowned slightly behind the mask at this, he felt like some sort of supplicant, and he absolutely refused to acknowledge the small voice in the back of his mind that whispered that this felt good, to be here in front of L like this.

L ran his fingers along the material of the mask smoothing it out, his fingers leaving tingling trails over the skin of Light's face; the make-up underneath merely aiding the sensation.

Light sighed slightly a small smile adorning his face; the smile vanishing when L patted him on the head, the wig staying resolutely in position. There was the sound of quiet laughter, Matsuda was trying, and failing, to hold in his amusement at this scene.

Light rose to his feet and glared at Matsuda, an act which would have worked in the past, but now all it did was make Matsuda laugh more.

"Whatever happened to respect?" Light sighed, checking the wig was still securely in place and then snatched the face paint from L's grasp and threw it at Matsuda, who just managed to catch it, "Best if we both wear this, else it will make it seem like I have more to hide."

"Oh I respect you," Matsuda said as he stifled his laughter, as he hurriedly applied the make-up to his own face, "but respect had nothing to do with it."

Light said nothing; there was nothing he could say. He had wanted Matsuda to not be afraid of him anymore.

"Oh I would certainly agree with that Matsuda-kun," L said smiling over at Matsuda.

Light looked at them both in despair.

"I am just about to go to the National Diet Building to take over the government, and this is how you are treating me?"

"Would you like it any other way?" L said quietly, "could you in all honesty cope with everyone fawning over you?"

"No, but I know I can't cope with all this time we are wasting," Light chided, turning on his heel and marching to the elevator, Matsuda in tow.

"Good Luck Light," L called.

"Thank you," Light said smiling back at him as the lift doors closed.

_Finally a new brighter future is about to dawn, _Light thought.

* * *


	11. Chapter 11

A/N; I am so very sorry it has taken me so long to update this story, I have been trying to plan out where I want this to go, and as many of you know Death Note Alphabet took over my brain for a time. I hope you forgive me for this and enjoy this most recent instalment.

This chapter is not beta'd by VirtualDraconium, so you will all get to see all the grammar errors and typos I used to inflict on her. If it annoys you don't worry because soon she will be beta'ing again, but I did not wish to interrupt her Uni revision.

Thank you, to all of you who have this story on alert, favourite and to those of you who review. If it was not for all of you I would never have continued this story with an evil L.

Please read and review, your comments on this story really aid my writing of the next chapter. Helps me see how it is coming across so I know how to pitch the next part.

* * *

Ascension to Power

Light sat impatiently in the back of the sleek car as Matsuda drove through the streets, he was feeling far more nervous about this than he had let on. The past couple of months had felt as though someone had swept the carpet out from under him, so much had happened. He wondered if he was ever going to be given room to breathe, just time to stop having to keep his control so tightly wound.

He frowned then, he was distracting himself from the task in hand, he was about to become the leader of Japan, it was necessary for a time at least. He would restore democracy eventually, once his task was complete. That was _if_ his followers desired it. In the dark of the interior of the car he smiled.

"I must confess, that even when you first began your campaign Light-sama," Matsuda murmured as he drove, "I also sympathised with your ideals."

"That is because you are a _good _person Matsuda," Light replied, his smile deepening into a smirk, he truly adored his first convert, "that's why I ensured your survival, and you know I couldn't do this without you."

Matsuda's sudden blush was evident in the light of a passing car.

…

Matt stood waiting on the front steps of the building, waiting for Light's approach. He felt gut wrenchingly nervous, knowing that watching you on every camera was L, and not only that L armed with a Death Note… Well he only hoped that L wouldn't act on impulse if any aspect of the plan altered due to circumstances. He so didn't want to end up like Linda. Shakily he took another drag of his cigarette, the nicotine helping to dampen his nerves. Mello knew what he was doing, and L knew both Mello and himself. Surely L knew they wouldn't double-cross him.

He suddenly saw the expected car approaching. He quickly stubbed out his cigarette and was about to throw away the stub when he realised that given the circumstances putting it in the bin would be very prudent. He moved closer to the vehicle and watched silently as the driver emerged. He blinked slightly as he took in the costume; he hadn't quite believed L when he had been informed. He gulped as he remembered L's other instruction, he really didn't want to do this, it went against his anarchic tendencies.

As Light emerged from the back of the vehicle and looked at him, he bent from the waist and bowed deeply.

…

Light blinked as Matt bowed to him, he hadn't expected quite _this _reaction.

"Please don't bow to me," Light said quietly, even though he was smirking inside, "you are after all part of the team that achieved this. I also suspect that _he_ put you up to this and I don't wish for you to force yourself anymore. Just be yourself, you have nothing to fear from me."

Matt grinned widely at Light, his straight pose turning into an all too familiar slouch.

"I like you," Matt pronounced, as if Light had just passed an unknown form of examination, "I think you will definitely be able to cope with him. Now if you will follow me."

"Thank you," Light responded magnanimously, as he swept up the stairs after Matt, Matsuda keeping close behind Light making sure to keep in step with him.

Light stuck an imperious pose as he swept through the building, his back straightening as all the armed men dressed in dark clothes saluted as he passed; the look of exhilaration and awe at his presence adding to his ego. He loved this, he was finally getting the recognition he deserved.

Matt seemed to hesitate slightly in front of the final door, he looked concerned suddenly. Then with a small sigh he opened the door and beckoned Light into the room; closing the door quickly behind them.

The first impression Light ever received of Mello in person was the fast receding soles of his boots as he snorted with laughter and fell off his chair. Behind his mask Light rolled his eyes.

"What's with the costume?" Mello said, rising from the floor and dusting himself off slightly before reaching for more chocolate.

"This question is coming from a man dressed entirely in leather," Light responded.

"Hey, at least I don't look as if I am trying to become a superhero or something," Mello said glowering.

"Leave off him Mello I like him," Matt responded as he flopped into a chair, he seriously didn't want these two to argue in a confined space.

"You like him? You took time out from planning your tactics for the next game you are going to play, to seriously assess this dude?" Mello said shocked.

"Of course I did, he even has L on his side. He's interesting," Matt replied, "and I don't think you should be annoying him."

"Tch whatever," Mello said sighing, then turned back to Light, who was indeed quite furious with Mello, "If I take you to see the government I am keeping all nice and safe for you, will you have a nice plan of action?"

"Of course, I thought this costume would be enough evidence of this," Light responded his tone cold.

"No wonder you and L get along," Mello said suddenly grinning, a true genuine grin, and "neither of you ever actually answer a question directly. I think I like you too."

Light began to wonder what power L held over these two, to command so much respect. Then he realised suddenly that L was able to command the same amount of respect from him quite recently too.

"Take me to see the government, I believe they need educating in the Right's of Man," Light said, smiling at Mello, maybe the guy wasn't so bad, after all he had given him such a lovely gift.

"Sure, they are in the main council chamber," Mello replied, moving to the door, "so you will have a nice place to make your speech."

This time as Light progressed down the corridor the supporters lining the wall broke away and followed behind him, moving as one cohesive unit. Vaguely Light wondered how Matt and Mello had organised this so quickly. He smiled as he realised he could still work out which camera L was watching him from, he could actually sense L's gaze flitting from camera to camera.

Before him suddenly were a pair of double doors flanked by guards, and as he approached rushed to open them, Light spilling out from the room beyond. Mello turned and nodded at him and Light strode forward Matsuda sticking close behind him as instructed, ever ready to defend Light if necessary.

All eyes in the room turned to look at him, some fearful others, Light was glad to see, actually excited to see him appear.

"Good evening," Light said smiling, "I hope you have not been mistreated by these enthusiastic people."

There was a general shaking of heads from his audience.

"I have a simple question to ask you. How many of you became politicians to aid the people and do what the people called for?"

Light waited patiently, and finally off to one side a hand was raised. Light smiled at this brave individual, the shine in his eyes visible even with the mask in the way. Gradually more hands joined the first, finally realising they weren't going to be struck down for answering.

"Good," Light said finally, as if his patience was eternal, "it is good to see that so many of you came to government with the desire to help, but now I have to ask. If so many people have been calling out to you all across the country to legally recognise my status, have you not?"

Deathly silence filled the room.

"No matter what your answer you are not in danger I assure you," Light said, trying to reassure the suddenly anxious people before him.

A hand suddenly rose into the air again.

Light smiled as he saw it was the same person who had been brave enough to be first last time.

"Ah, yes of course I would love an answer," Light said, his tone kind.

"I don't have a specific answer for you," she said quietly, "but I assure you some of us did try, but we weren't able to succeed."

"Why ever not?" Light said, still keeping his tone friendly.

"The older members of the house told us we are being young and naïve and refused to acknowledge our plea."

"Thank you," Light replied, "you are very brave to speak in what must be a very frightening experience for you, for which I can only apologise, but the government had to be persuaded." He turned away and addressed the older members crowded at the back of the room, "Is what she tells me the truth?"

They didn't answer for a time then one closer to the front spoke up; unlike the others who looked cowed he looked livid.

"Why? Because you are nothing but a murderer, a deranged man who has no respect for anyone!"

Light was formulating a reply, when the man actually dived for him. Inches from Light a shot rang out, and the man collapsed to the floor obviously dead. Light turned in the direction of the shot and confronted the armed man. The man looked shot to be confronted by his God in such an angry manner.

"He was entitled to his views, it is a freedom all people should have and is why we are here, killing him was wrong a _crime. _Even if he was going to attack me, he could have been persuaded otherwise," Light said harshly.

"I am sorry Kira-sama," the man said, sinking to his knees, "please forgive me."

"No, I cannot do that, you have killed an innocent man," Light said quietly. The man looked up at him imploringly before suddenly clutching at his chest and understood quite intimately the justice his "God" could serve before his life ended.

Light turned back to the crowd, some looked at him now with fear. However, there were many who although shocked now viewed him with outright awe, although even they were still fearful.

"I apologise for such actions, but it is the only way to bring about a better world," Light said quietly, "who among you are willing to help me do this?"

Slowly hands began to rise once more, he was not surprised to see the woman from before raise her hand.

"Rest assured that once I have finished my task I shall remove myself from power if the people wish me to stand down. I am only taking power after all because the people wish me to do so," Light said smiling, "your help will be invaluable in keeping this country running as efficiently as it usually does. I would only wish for this to continue. If you could tell my aide," – here he gestured to Matsuda- "your names and your previous duties we can the move on from there."

Light gestured for the interesting woman to stand aside from the rest of the group, she moved away from the forming queue. She did so hesitatingly, but she didn't look scared as he approached.

"What is your name?"

"Takahashi Fumiko Kira-sama," she replied quietly, looking up at Light.

"Well Fumiko-san, I like someone who is brave enough to speak up even when afraid, I would like you to act as my spokesperson when I do not have time to meet with everyone, is that something you are prepared to do?" Light said calmly, he already knew her answer.

"I would be honoured," she replied smiling, "I only hope I can live up to your expectations."

"I am sure you will, now can you tell me who else supported me before my arrival?" He gave Fumiko a winning smile.

…

Far away L sat laughing loudly at Light's smooth charm, he wondered how the man could speak with such a silver tongue. He sat back and idly twirled the pen in his hand as he listened to Light carefully describing all he wanted his government to do, the people who had chosen to follow him listening to him avidly. L wondered how Light had such an affect on people, it was useful, but also rather curious.

…

Near sat on the once again pristine floor; playing idly with his new robotic toy. He was despondent, first Kira had messed with him, and shown he knew more than Near ever thought possible and now had hindered Near's investigation at every turn. His team were destined for permanent unemployment once this investigation had ended, they had refused to leave Near when the president had ordered them to.

He was brought out of his reverie by Gevanni, who had become his second shadow after the 'incident'.

"Near you should watch this."

Near gestured for him to put whatever it was on screen.

"- and so in recognition of Kira's abilities and noble aims for the world, the people of Japan spoke and as of midnight last night Kira has become the new Prime Minister of Japan."

Near stared up at the News reader that had appeared on screen; he had never suspected Kira would make a bold move, and then Kira surprised him once more.

"I take over Japan only at the request of it's people and assure everyone that daily life will be unaffected, all will continue as usual for all innocent people," Kira said calmly, "I will give you the world you all desire. One of peace, freedom and innocence!"

Near rose to his feet as there was the sound of cheering and moved towards the screens.

"So Kira is truly a man," Near murmured, raising one hand to touch the screen, "and if Kira is a man he can be stopped. By becoming something other than a concept, an idea, you have weakened your hand and strengthened mine. I can and I will stop you."

Near smiled slightly, his determination finally rising again. He would do this, he would succeed where L had failed and bring Kira to justice, before taking over L's position once and for all.

* * *


	12. Chapter 12

A/N; Here is the twelfth chapter of what was meant to be a story I was only going to work on but rarely. It has now become as important to me as my other long story Death Note Alphabet; something for which my reviewers are the cause of, your support and kind words have kept this story alive and made me focus all my attention on it. Thank you! There is no way I am putting this story down now!

Not beta'd by VirtualDraconium, I don't think the examiners would have liked me walking into the exam hall to give it to her…. I apologise wholeheartedly for any mistakes you find VirtualDraconium as I know you cannot put your red pen to work.

Please read and review; they make me happy and make me write!

* * *

Predictions and Punishments

Near shifted slightly, he hated chairs; in frustration and despondency he picked at the hem of his sleeve. Unfortunately he had to sit in the seat because they were in a car and he was not about to trade his life, potentially, for his own temporary comfort. The SPK were moving buildings, he had put plans into motions for precisely this action soon after Kira had sent his message. He was not about to increase the risk for himself or the team serving around him. He was quite grateful for the continued support, not one had been angry at him for withholding who he truly was, they were logical and intelligent people; he wouldn't have picked them unless they thought like him.

"Near," Gevanni said suddenly from the driver's seat, "we have arrived."

Near glanced up from his sleeve and stared out the window at the building. It looked like a run down tenement block from the outside, boarded up windows and graffiti adorned the structure; no-one would ever think to look for the cleanliness obsessed Near here. Of course inside was a masterpiece of modern construction; all polished steel and tiled floors. Rooms had been provided for each member of the SPK… They had to be; from today not a single trace of their existence would remain, not a photo, not a certificate, not a newspaper. It wasn't airtight, but even if some trace of their existence remained it would be so miniscule and out of the usual public arena it should pose no threat.

Wordlessly he followed Gevanni and Mr Scott into the building, automatically passing through all the security procedures; they were his own, he had no need to concentrate on them.

When dealing with Kira nothing could be considered safe. Now that the world was falling at his feet Kira held all the cards, had all the power and all the people at his disposal to track them down. This worried Near so much that he had finally transferred his savings account money across the world, through thousands of accounts in almost all bank companies to finally arrive back together in an innocuous account buried under fake charity details.

Only one thing truly bothered Near now; What had happened to Matt and Mello? They had seemingly vanished off the face of the planet. Near had been able to track them across Europe and then Asia, but then they stepped on a flight to China and off the face of the Earth as far as Near was concerned. It was worrying Matt only utilised his abilities so adeptly if Mello had planned something _really_ important.

He thought back over the information he had managed to glean about the sudden takeover in Japan. The scale of the attack and the sheer brazen confidence it would have taken to coordinate that many people, not many people would have the audacity to do it, let alone with such quiet precision.

Near stopped dead in his tracks, his heart plummeting. Mello had sided with Kira? Near rose his hand to his mouth to strangle the gasp of surprise; he had thought Mello a stalwart supporter of justice.

"Mello No," Near whispered quietly, he felt his world break apart that little bit more. He now had to fight against someone he considered a friend; despite that friends attitude towards him.

…

L sat once more watching Light in action. The speed of Light's actions was surely impressive. In the space of two days Light had a fully functioning government, and with the aid of Matt's vigorous system of background checks and psyche analysis each was considered trustworthy. All chosen were fiercely loyal to Kira, either from the original government of picked from the ranks of Mello's 'free-lance' group.

Neither Mello nor Matt would explain just how they had managed to gain control of all the fractured groups of Kira supporters in such a small space of time. Considering Mello's past L decided this was one of those few things that he didn't want to know. It was probably something to do with the two arms shipments that went missing recently; with contents remarkably similar to the weapons all the men in black were sporting, and the sudden disappearance of the Mafia and Yakuza. L groaned, he was too used to putting the pieces together to have stopped simply because of his own simple wish.

L decided it was because he was bored, after the first incident when Light first stepped out no-one had challenged Light aka Kira in any way. There was only so long he could cope with listening to Light talk on and on. L seemed to be the only one who was immune to Light's charisma; frankly it was depressing, and he had to admit irritating, to see everyone fawn over Light. He was only feeling slightly appeased by the note Light had held up to a camera when he had managed to break away from everyone for a few minutes.

_Please forgive them L, they see me as Kira, someone who doesn't exist. Not as they see Kira anyway. That means that I am still safely yours, I am not about to see anything interesting in a bunch of sycophants. Please stop being so angry._

L really was in awe over Light's ability to know which camera he was being observed from and now it seemed he knew what L was feeling too. Had he really been that angry?

In consternation L reached for some cake, if he was going to be bored he might as well be somewhat happy. He nearly dropped the plate in shock though as two Shinigami heads emerged through the wall opposite. He blinked once and quickly recovered his composure.

"Hello Ryuk, Hello Rem," L said quietly, nodding at the shinigami. His eyes quickly took in their appearance, both appeared quite despondent. Neither acknowledged his greeting. L sighed and opened a desk drawer, he pulled out the red apple from within it's depths. He reached out towards Ryuk, perhaps this would make the Shinigami talk to him, he was not about to have this chance at activity slip him by.

To L's surprise Ryuk moved swiftly closer his hand coming out to take it, but an inch from the rosy red treat his hand stopped. The shinigami looked in pain.

"I have it under good authority that you like apples Ryuk," L murmured.

"I do, but the Shinigami-king gave me an allergy to 'em," Ryuk wailed.

"Shinigami-king?... whatever for?" L asked.

"For staying too long with Rem, I missed the deadline for coming to meet ya," Ryuk sighed, his eyes still fixed on the apple, his mood making him talkative.

"What did he do to you Rem?" L asked, finally taking pity on the nearly crying Death God and placing the apple back in the drawer. Then he reached for his cake once more.

"What?" Rem said looking over from where she crouched, "he forced me to live. Any names written in the Death Note I threw at Light add to my life, and even if I write a humans name in a Death Note to aid them, I can not die. He has forced me to live, when I wish not."

L actually felt sorry for the female shinigami as he heard this. As punishments went perhaps being alive could be considered the worst of all… His gaze flitted back to Ryuk, his punishment seemed too forgiving in comparison.

"What _else_ did he do to you Ryuk?"

Ryuk looked up at L in consternation, his mouth agape.

"I ain't gonna tell ya," Ryuk growled.

"Ah," L said happily, pointing his fork at Ryuk, "there is something else."

Ryuk looked at L stunned, finally understanding just how good L probably was.

"I'll tell you," Rem said quietly, "The Shinigami-king has made two humans immune to the Death Note."

"Will you care to tell me their names?" L said, refusing to let his voice shake.

"I have no reason to hide that information."

So Rem told him.

…

Light was in is element. This was far better than he could ever have imagined. So far Japan had been quite agreeable to his sudden seizure of power, but then they had been the country he had had the most involvement in; it was his own after all. His only problem had been with the severe anger he had felt from L through the cameras, his note; that embarrassing note, had seemed to cool him down.

Honestly having Matsuda walk in on him while the note burned in a waste bin was frankly awkward. Next time he would leave L to stew in his anger; particularly as L was now watching him with some amusement. Surely L wasn't laughing at him because of that note?

Light turned his attention back to the task in hand, moving the government offices to the Investigation Headquarters. It would be much easier for L to watch over Light and offer advice, something Light was sure he would be needing, plus everyone could be watched _very _closely. Plus it would be easier to get Mello and Matt into the building to see L. His only problem was this; currently Matsuda and himself were squatters, their clearout had to be convincing.

It was only a matter of time of course before this had happened anyway, they had only been allowed to stay to review L's data, _because_ they said it was encrypted and because it wouldn't be viewed as a threat to Kira. A washed out cop and a university student? Hardly a thereat. Of course now Kira was in power the police would obviously try to remove them from the building.

Perhaps the answer to this was fairly simple; allow the police to clear them out. Surely no-one would relate the two they found to the two who now controlled the government. L would be easily able to stay hidden inside his own building.

"Fumiko-san," Light said suddenly, startling the women who stood behind him, "Please get the police on the phone I have a task for them."

…

Light sighed as he rode the elevator, he could finally feel the tension leaving him as he neared L. He hadn't realised just how tense being around all those people was, even with the mask he felt edgy; he had lost some of his razor edge when he had been chained to L, he had had very few people to practice his people skills on. L had never been an option for practice, any technique Light had tried had been picked up on by L who had not seemed affected at all; merely blinked his large black eyes at Light in consternation.

He nearly forgot to step out of the lift at the sight that greeted him, he barely made it in time. Ryuk was bobbing along the ceiling in a mix of depression and anger; while Rem gazed on her face expressionless.

"Ryuk?" he said, "where have you been, and what on Earth is wrong with you? "

Ryuk merely saw Light, scoffed and turned away.

"Rem," Light said then, acknowledging the other shinigami, "I thought you were not going to come back?"

"Neither did I Light Yagami," Rem said before sighing deeply.

Light's gazed flicked to L, who beamed back at him, his grin seeming almost smirk like.

"Light is not asking the right questions," L laughed.

"Well L, what would be the right questions?" Light asked, collapsing into a chair, he really didn't want to deal with this. He had been too busy today, all he wanted was a little peace. He closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair.

"Hmm," L said, his voice much closer than before. Light opened his eyes to see L's face not three inches from his own, "I think I shall just tell you as you seem rather fatigued and therefore will not be able to think of questions effectively."

Light looked at L expectantly.

"They have been punished by the Shinigami-king. In relation to Rem, well whenever you write a name in her old Death Note she gains life, and no matter what the reason she uses a notebook for, should she regain one, she can not die from writing a name," L said smiling, "Ryuk has been made allergic to apples and… His right to your name has been removed, as has every other Shinigami's right. You are immune to the Death Note Light-kun. Also for some reason I can not fathom so am I."

There was a moment of stunned silence.

"What?"

* * *


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer; Death note is not mine.

A/N; I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Please read and review!

* * *

Manoeuvres and Evasions

"We have been made immune Light-kun," L repeated, "No Death Note can kill us. No matter how many other Death Notes come into play, we are untouchable."

Light stared at L, his mouth dropped open.

"I don't believe it," Light gasped.

"I tested it, just to make sure," L said smiling, then showed Light the page emblazoned with L's true name. Light looked at him with a mixture of disbelief and anger.

"I can't believe you did something so stupid!" Light groaned.

"I don't believe it was stupid, I have _never_ done anything stupid, there was after all a 98% chance that Rem was telling the truth," L replied.

The mention of the shinigami once more made Light think over what he had heard, he stared at Rem contemplatively again. He picked up a Death Note from the table in front of him and slowly approached Rem, where she crouched against the wall. He knelt down before her and prised her hands away from her knees then placed the Death Note carefully in them, pushing the fingers back onto the black cover. Rem stared wordlessly at him, then down at her Death Note.

"_Why_?" Rem gasped.

"This way you get to choose your own fate again, you wanted to die and he wouldn't let you. At least this way you know I pose no risk to your life span increasing further. I haven't used it," Light said calmly.

"Thank you Yagami Light," she murmured, staring down at the Death Note.

…

L looked on in silence; he was the only one who truly knew Light's motives. He didn't want to make Rem feel better, no, this way he would get the Shinigami almost eating out of his hand; she was another card in Light's pack. L smiled, Light was finally learning how to manipulate people properly; if he had known from the beginning Misa would never have been a problem.

'_But then I never would have got the chance to do all this, I never would have got him,'_ L thought.

…

Light sighed as he finally turned his attention back to Ryuk.

"Ryuk, surely loosing the ability to kill me has not made you so depressed," Light sighed, "I thought I was providing you with good entertainment?"

Ryuk suddenly shot down until his face was level with Light's.

"You, aren't as important as apples," Ryuk cried, "I can't have apples anymore!"

Light stared at Ryuk in shock as he zoomed off again, he could hear L laughing ever so quietly behind him, he refused to acknowledge it though. He had been compared to _apples_.

"You know you could try other fruits," Light called up to the zooming Ryuk, "they may not be as nice but they could be a good substitute. Why can't you have apples anymore?"

"Because I went to comfort her, instead of comin' to see you!" Ryuk exclaimed, pointing at Rem in sudden anger before vanishing through a wall.

"I see," Light said, "somehow I doubt he will ever do a kind act for someone ever again."

"Tch," Rem said suddenly, "he's been through worse than this before. Don't tell him this, but Ryuk has not been made allergic to apples. The Shinigami king told him that just to annoy him."

Light doubled over in laughter; it had to be the funniest thing he had ever heard.

…

Therefore when Matsuda finally arrived with a delivery of more cake for L he was quite shocked. No-one had ever seen Light laugh like this before. Even L looked amazed.

"Ano-."

"Oh don't mind him Matsuda," L said flippantly, "he just heard something quite amusing from the voices in his head."

"What?" Matsuda gasped, visibly shocked.

Light's laughter suddenly stopped, his face was dark.

"Just ignore him Matsuda, I was actually informed of something by Rem which amused me."

Matsuda suddenly noticed the hunched form of Rem as Light said this.

"Ah," Matsuda said quietly, deciding to drop the subject, "Oh, the police send word that they will be able to implement your desire tomorrow morning at 10 as planned. They will keep the press away."

"Thank you Matsuda," Light said, suddenly becoming business like again, "Will you be able to keep them off this floor if we change the lift settings L?"

"Most definitely, this is _my_ building after all," L said smiling.

"Good," Light replied, "Then Matt and Mello will finally be able to join us here and we can get on with making this world a better place, much more comfortably, with no more sneaking around. It is too risky."

"Indeed it is," L said, "We also have another slight problem. Near has vanished, he has finally decided to go completely into hiding. Not normally a problem considering what I know of him, but he will be necessary in drawing out all the people against our reign."

"I thought you had a watch set up on his accounts?" Light queried, moving over towards L his previous annoyance forgotten.

"Then he decided to move banks, several thousand times, quite ingenious, I doubt even Matt could follow his trail," L commented.

"Hmm," Light said as he thought then, "how much of a danger could he be to our success if he goes off the radar?"

"Potentially extremely dangerous, he has an I.Q close to mine and has been well trained at Wammy's. Now that he has begun to work against us…" L said quietly.

"Well at least life will stay interesting despite politics," Light sighed.

"Bored already with your new dictator status?"

"Hardly, it's just having all those people _whining _at me all day," Light sighed, "they seem incapable of thinking for themselves."

"From what I could tell Light-kun, they are scared of you, they are asking you all those questions because they don't suddenly want to keel over dead," L explained.

Light considered L's words.

"Yes, you are probably right," Light sighed, "I shall have to work on that. I don't want my government too scared of me. Though it is probably just a reaction to the way I took over."

…

"What do you mean we have to leave?" Matsuda said loudly, moving so he was stood close to the offending police officer.

"What I mean _sir_," the man said through gritted teeth, "is that Kira-sama has commissioned this building. Your work here on extracting data from the late L's system is no longer necessary. Kira-sama is now in power, but rest assured you will suffer no reprimands for your actions, you were merely doing what you thought was right."

"You sound like a parrot repeating everything like that," Matsuda growled, "surely our work here can still be important in extracting information about criminals _for_ Kira?"

"I am sure Kira-_sama_ will be able to find more suitable people to run this operation, than a junior Police Detective and a University Student. You will both LEAVE right now."

The police officer was now staring pointedly at Light. Light glared at him momentarily then let himself sag forward slightly as if in defeat.

"Come on Matsuda-kun," Light sighed, "we are in the wrong if we stay here now, let's go grab our belongings and get out from under this guys feet."

"Thank you," the man said, "at least one of you has developed some sense, I wouldn't have liked calling in the reinforcements." He gestured out at the parking lot. It was filled with police cars.

Matsuda and Light headed into the lift.

"Thank you for that display of acting," Light said, smiling at Matsuda, "we couldn't leave without a fight, it would have been suspicious. This was originally an operation to stop me after all. I wouldn't want myself back under observation."

"I'm just glad I could help out," Matsuda said, laughing slightly.

"You always do," Light replied.

A few minutes later they were being driven away from the building in an unmarked police car and were unceremoniously dumped outside the Yagami household.

…

"Ni-san!" Sayu exclaimed happily as he came through the door, Matsuda trailing behind him.

Light quickly dropped his bags and pulled her into a hug.

"I can't believe how much you have done!" she whispered happily in his ear, "you're amazing."

"I'm just doing what has to be done," he whispered back, feeling her arms tightening around him.

She waved at Matsuda and ran through into another room, then Light's father pushed the door open and wheeled himself through. Matsuda bowed nervously, he was still shocked to see someone he respected so much brought so low.

"Welcome home Light," Soichiro said, he seemed tired, "Please come in Matsuda, it is nice to see you again."

Light awkwardly went over and shook his father's hand slightly, it was obvious they didn't do physical signs of affection very often.

"I think your Mother wants very much to see you," Soichiro said, smiling up at Light.

Half and hour later Light was happily ensconced on a sofa, watching his family, Matsuda sat next to him. It was nice, but he realised there was one thing missing. He truly wanted L to be here with him; it made his heart ache thinking about L all on his own.

Then the phone rang. His mother rose to answer it, then looked over at Light in shock.

"It's a government official, he wants to talk to you," she exclaimed, "it's about your role in the Kira case."

Light looked at her in genuine surprise, and rose hesitantly to speak to whoever was on the other end of the line.

"Hello Light-kun," the voice said quietly. Light blinked, trying to keep the shock of recognition off his face. _L had phoned him._

What do you want?" Light murmured.

"This is your 11.30am call to give you an excuse to get back into the building as yourself in the future, and to ensure you don't have to find a lame excuse to leave the family home," L proclaimed happily down the phone, "and I just wanted to talk to you. Did you know Ryuk could fold himself up so his legs were above his head while upside down?"

"Yes, I did know, it is part of his current 'situation'," Light explained, trying to make his wording as innocuous as possible, L did have a point. Light had been trying to concoct some other excuse he could use to escape his family once again.

"Nicely put Light-kun," L said, evidently amused, "Having fun being the model son?"

"Yes, I am able to do that," Light replied, turning away from his family so he could glare at the wall. His grip tightened on the phone as he heard L's quiet laughter down the phone.

"Is there anything else you need to tell me?" Light asked, forcing his anger out of his voice.

"No, have fun won't you Light-kun. I expect you to be back in the next two hours, do _not_ be late," L said, his tone suddenly becoming serious, commanding. Light felt a sudden shiver slide down his spine; whether from anxiety at the tone… or something else, he did not know.

"I understand, I won't be late," he replied, then put the phone down. He took a moment to gather his thoughts then turned to face his family. They fell silent.

"Kira has been informed of Matsuda and my activities, he wants to see us in the next two hours," Light began, his brain running through all the possible responses to this.

"I… see," his father said quietly, "this was possibly unavoidable considering what you have been doing with your time."

"What do you mean?" Sachiko asked suddenly, she looked suddenly worried, "What have you been doing?"

"I had been helping Dad work towards capturing Kira," Light said quietly.

"Oh no," Sachiko gasped, she looked close to tears.

"I don't think we are in trouble," Light said hurriedly, feigning a look of confusion, "I think he is just interested, we are not a threat any more."

His words had the desired effect; both his parents seemed genuinely relieved at his words. Matsuda of course had acted along perfectly; Light nodded at him once in appreciation.

…

Sayu watched her brother, Kira, leave; she had never supported him. Only pretending to agree in order to ensure this family was kept safe. Kira had removed any obstacle to his plans after all, it was unlikely he would stop just because the people in the way had the nerve to be related to him. Light had always been distant from them anyway, always keeping away from them.

However now she was no longer just worried for her family, she was worried for the world. She could see what her family did not, would not, deep within Light's eyes was the evil glint of a tyrant. Despite what he was saying in his role as Kira, Light would never give back control. She knew he didn't want to make the world a better place, he wanted to make the world _his._

Deep inside her soul Sayu felt a deep grief for the brother she knew she had lost. Why had Light decided to do such a thing? All she knew now was that she had to find some way to fight back. There had to be someone who would be able to help, someone who was fighting back.

* * *


	14. Chapter 14

A/N; First can apologise for this chapter being shorter than usual, but when you see the ending I think you will understand why… I can assure you however that chapter fifteen is in progress already. Oh and my poll is still going over whether you guys want me to write a recap chapter or not… It will be closing in a week or two though.

Beta'd by VirtualDraconium, as always I thank you most heartily for your help. I know that recently the amount of chapters you are receiving has increased somewhat. The fact you haven't hit me over the head with something is quite an achievement. Particularly when I started yet another story…

Anyway…

Please read and review! I love reviews, they make me happy, make me write and I always reply to my reviewers. It's only fair after all.

* * *

Chapter 14

Light sat in the back of the car doing something quite uncharacteristic. He was fidgeting. He was most definitely going to arrive back late to headquarters. He could already see L's smirk in his mind. He wasn't sure just why he was so anxious to get back on time. Perhaps it was because he was quite nervous as to what L had planned for him, or maybe because he knew it would be something that would quite possibly cause quite a bit of damage to his pride.

He ignored the look of concern Matsuda directed at him, he wasn't about to explain to his closest disciple that he was about to get his pride trodden all over and was unlikely to fight it. The awful thing about it was that it wasn't his fault that they were going to be late, they were going to be late because of the _traffic_. He expected that L had known he was going to be held up by the traffic, and had set him up. He should have seen it coming of course.

…

Light had been correct in his assumptions, they were late; a whole hour late. Any hope Light had had of fighting L over whatever L had planned, dwindled and died. Light sighed and turned his attention to the changes the building was undergoing.

Mello's forces were already guarding the foyer and the main entrances; there was a large scale shifting of furniture occurring. Light resisted the urge to smile; Mello had certainly found an efficient group of people.

Light was surprised to see Fumiko approaching him; she wasn't scheduled to arrive until tomorrow. Her enthusiasm was quite gratifying. Light wondered if it would be possible to bring her into his inner circle, by telling her his true identity. The only problem would be her reaction to his age, he was younger than she was, and she was the youngest member of the government; the old government anyway.

"Ahh, you would be Yagami-san and Matsuda-san," Fumiko said calmly, "if you would please follow me." As she said this guards fell in on either side of the duo.

Silently they followed her towards the lifts; when one arrived Fumiko gestured them inside.

"Are you not coming with us?" Light asked cautiously, looking at her in concern.

"I have been instructed not to," she replied as the doors closed.

..

The lift began to move of its own accord as L directed it up to his floor. A floor the building now pretended wasn't there. If anyone wanted to reach them the intercoms did patch through, but they lied about where the call was being received. L was, if anything, very, very thorough.

The doors opened to reveal a stand-off of sorts. L was sat in his chair as usual, while Matt and Mello were stood facing him. It was evident that there had been a rather heated debate occurring before the lift doors had opened.

Light found himself sighing for the second time that day, why did he feel he was about to play moderator to these three.

"Hello everyone," Light said calmly, "Having fun are we?"

"It appears Light-kun is late returning," L commented, his gaze not moving from Matt and Mello.

"It was unavoidable," Light replied, noncommittally, he refused to be drawn into that debate right now, "What is going on here?"

"They wish to know why we removed Linda, and why we used her death to remove most of the Wammy's population," L sighed, his gaze flicking to Light.

"That's all?" Light replied, "What did you tell them?"

"He was just about to tell us," Mello murmured, "she was our friend. Although we agree with you in principle… the loss of Linda, well… Why did you do it?"

"She came here to kill us," Light said calmly, " and she would have succeeded if L hadn't managed to disarm her. She did still manage to seriously wound Matsuda though."

"She did what?" Matt murmured, "She wasn't the type for impulsive behaviour, not normally anyway…" Matt trailed off, completely shocked by his old friend's actions.

"But why Wammy's?" Mello asked, his gaze now focused on Light.

"If Linda had acted so completely out of character, and become a danger to us so quickly, what was to stop the others? They had access to the same data, and if any of the staff were involved, the entire world's police would once again gear up against Kira, fuelled by the shock of L joining Kira. Those saved were the ones least likely to act, or the ones most likely to join our side," Light said, returning Mello's stare. "There was no other way."

There was deep silence in the room. L was looking at Light slightly shocked but with extreme satisfaction over Light's final understanding of just _why_ L had done what he did. Mello and Matt however just looked deep in thought, reminding Light of a pair of miniature L's; both considering the new information before coming to a decision. Then they both looked at each other, the two old friends communicating silently, they both nodded slightly relaxing as they did so.

"Fine," Mello sighed, his hand running through his hair, "we accept your reasoning. I am shocked that Linda would attack you so brazenly, though from her diaries it was clear that she was completely opposed to the whole concept of the Death Note from the first time she glanced through the data."

"Thank you," L said finally, "your support means a great deal to me."

"Surely you remember that we support you more than anything else," Matt murmured, a Nintendo DS already in his hands. Mello nodded in agreement and lounged on a nearby chair.

"You have certainly proved that with your recent achievements," L said, standing abruptly, "now if you could excuse me I need to talk with Light privately."

L walked over and tugged Light on the arm and headed out the doors out onto the rest of the floor. Past Matsuda, who frowned in confusion, he was usually included in the discussions lately.

"Don't worry Matsuda," Light sighed, turning to follow L, "this is personal, not business; I wouldn't keep you out of the loop."

Matsuda was about to say something to Light's retreating back when Mello called to him, asking him whether he knew how to play chess. Matsuda grinned.

…

Light followed wordlessly behind L, noticing the shinigami in a side room. Rem was sat staring down at the Death Note, as if trying to will it out of existence, her grief and her natural needs obviously vying within her. Ryuk was currently nearly spherical due to the contortion of his limbs and was floating near the ceiling, imitating a helium balloon quite well. Light wondered just what he would do once he realised he had been lied to.

A minute later Light was fed up with trailing alone behind L like some sort of pet puppy.

"L," Light said coldly, "either reach your destination or make your point. I don't like being one of your games. Just why did you set me that ultimatum over the phone?"

L halted in his tracks, before turning slightly to face Light.

"No Light, this is my 'ultimatum' as you put it;" L said, his tone level, as if picking his words extremely carefully, "How long have you had to carefully choose what to say? How long have you quietly taken control of every conversation? How long have you had to play the perfect son? For how many years have you had to keep that control in place?"

"What are you on about?" Light asked, moving closer to L, he was quite confused as to why L was asking him this.

"Please answer the question Light; I know you are now trying to avoid answering me. Stop diverting." L said calmly, reaching out to run a finger down Light's cheek; an action which seemed to move something deep within Light.

"Since I was seven, that was when I truly realised just how much smarter than everyone else I was," Light whispered, "I had to monitor everything I said, every action; I'd seen people with much lesser abilities than my own become ostracized because they couldn't fit in. Then, even my family accepted that that was who I was; I had to become this 'perfect person' even at home."

"I thought so," L sighed, and gently took Light's hand before pulling him down the corridor. Light didn't even bother to ask again, his breathing was heavy from such a heartfelt confession. He hadn't even realised it himself until L had voiced his questions. They entered the bedroom and L pushed Light into a chair before a mirror, moving to stand behind him.

L looked at Light, this was perhaps the first time he'd ever seen Light sit hunched over, L's words had had a greater affect than he'd imagined. He slowly wrapped his arms around Light's chest, resting his head on Light's shoulder.

"Around me Light," L whispered, "you don't have to act, you don't have to worry and you don't have to try to control the situation. You can let go."

L felt Light's frame tense, his breathing quicken in pace. L paused momentarily, as an opportunity for Light to say something. Light remained silent.

"With me you can be yourself and let me look after you," L continued, then he laughed ever so slightly, "I already help you in so many ways."

"What do you mean?" Light muttered, his voices shaking.

"I believe you already know Light," L replied, glancing up to watch Light's face in the mirror.

In truth though, Light did already know, how could he not? This conversation placed in context all the things L had done over the past few weeks. L had, after all, told Light that he owned him. Light wondered just why he had agreed with L back then, was this why? All the reasons L had just given? Did he really want to let go of his tight control at last?

Light finally looked up, shuddering slightly as he met L's powerful gaze. He tried to look away, and found he couldn't, in his current confused state the gaze easily held him.

"Light, you will have to give an answer at some point," L said, "You know I won't let this drop until you do."

"I can't," Light whispered, "I can't give you an answer."

Light's throat constricted as he saw the smile spreading across L's face.

"I thought you might say that." L said, still smiling at Light, before moving away.

Light watched as L rummaged in a drawer for something, before finally turning back to him holding a large box.

"I shall give you an easier way of showing your choice," L said calmly, placing the box on Light's lap, "If you want to go through with this, put on the contents of this box. If not, put the box back in the drawer and forget I ever said anything."

L then promptly left the room.

With shaking hands Light opened the box, and nearly dropped it. Inside the box was a slim, black collar.

"What?" Light gasped.

* * *


	15. Chapter 15

A/N; Well I was incredibly glad after posting the last chapter that no-one was disgusted by the collar; I have to say the collar was a slight surprise to me, but it fit the situation and so after much thought I kept the idea.

Beta'd by VirtualDraconium, whose continued assistance over grammar, plot problems, and her general ability to not become annoyed with me on a nightly basis at times over my inane random comments about my stories is greatly appreciated. I am sure I must drive you insane sometimes…

Well anyway…

I hope you all enjoy this chapter and leave me a review! Reviews really do make me write more.

* * *

Endeavour and Entrapment

Light stared down at the collar in his hands. It wasn't a large collar; just a centimetre and a half in width, made of soft black leather with a small silver clasp to hold it together. He moved his fingers along the fabric until they brushed against something on the opposite side of the collar; a little silver L was attached to what was evidently the front of the collar.

Light's initial shock turned to out right rage at the sight of the ornate letter; on impulse he threw it across the large bedroom to and with a clink in a corner. He jerked to his feet and began pacing the room.

"How dare he say such things, suggest such a thing," Light growled through gritted teeth; now that L had left him, he had chance to think over just what had been said, "presuming to suggest _all_ my life has been an act…"

Light trailed off coming to a sudden stop by the bed as he realised that L _hadn't_ said that; Light had said it himself. He ran a shaking hand through his hair, for the first time in, well, in _years_, Light was completely unsure of how to act, what to do. He collapsed back onto the bed, his arm over his eyes.

"_Around me Light… you can let go."_ L's whispered words, that had shocked him before, snuck their way back into his mind. Light frowned, that wasn't the truth surely, L was _always_ testing him, always goading him.

"I could never trust him so completely," Light whispered; his voice full of venom.

"_But that's not true either is it?"_ a treacherous inner voice whispered to him, "_Stop lying to yourself._"

Light rose and began his pacing once more.

"_Let me look after you,"_ the memory of L's words again assailed him.

Light realised that part of him, no _most_ of him, was so tempted by the idea… to let someone else make his decisions for him, to take away all that stress; at least for a little while.

Light gave a small grunt of annoyance, he realised suddenly why he had been so enraged at the idea, he'd been too concerned with his pride and his ego… this would potentially mean losing that, something which would have been a horrible thought normally, but this would be in front of L. Someone Light had gradually come to care for deeply, and if he was being completely honest with himself… _love._

Light gave another groan of annoyance, sinking to the floor. This was getting him nowhere. There was only one thing he knew, this was the time to make this decision. Ten minutes gradually passed, their passage marked by the quiet ticking of a solitary clock. Light barely noticed, his mind travelling back over the years, all of the fronts he'd put up for others, to keep their favour. All to fit in, to seem normal despite being so much _better_ than those that surrounded him.

L was giving him a way out of that. Freedom through seeming to have no freedom at all.

Light rose on shaky legs and walked over to where the collar lay.

"So, am I really going to do this?" Light whispered, reaching to pick it up. With shaking hands he opened the clasp.

Light closed his eyes and pressed the fabric to his neck. It was cold, but not overly so. In one fluid motion he had the collar around his neck, and the clasp closed. He tugged gently at it, his innate neatness forcing him to manoeuvre the small silver L so it was directly at the front.

Then Light finally allowed himself to take in a shuddering breath; now the collar was on he felt a lot more centred, as if it had given him back the control L had so quickly stripped from him with his words. Light knew that this was only half the battle, he still had to find L and tell him his answer. Momentarily he studied the collar in the mirror, it stood out clearly above his suit; if he were to wear the suit he wore as Kira, and left the top buttons undone, it would be extremely obvious. He was quite surprised that he was already planning how to hide it beneath his clothes when necessary; it made him feel more secure about his choice.

He strode over to the door and wrenched it open, stepping out into the corridor beyond. Then he froze, L was leaning against the opposite wall. Their gazes met momentarily and, as L's gaze swept down to focus on the small band around his neck, Light felt his shaky confidence break apart once more.

L began to move towards him, his gaze still focused on Light's neck. In trepidation Light backed away, unknowingly re-entering the bedroom. L stopped advancing and flicked the door closed with his foot, then leant back upon it.

"I must admit I am surprised you came to your decision so quickly Light," L said quietly; his gaze rising to Light's face one more.

"So am I," Light whispered, managing to keep his nerves from affecting his facial expression.

L moved swiftly to stand in front of him.

"If you really want to go through with this, would you please stop trying to hide your emotions from me. It really doesn't work when they still show up in your eyes," L whispered.

"I'm not hiding my emotions," Light tried to deny.

L brought his face so close to Light's that they were almost touching.

"Yes. You. Are." L whispered, before moving away slightly.

Slowly, at an almost unnoticeable rate Light's face finally showed his inner turmoil; their eye contact not breaking; the gaze acting like an unbreakable bond between them. L raised a hand and slowly caressed one of Light's cheeks; smiling as Light leaned into the touch, a slight smile gracing his features. His eyelids fluttered as he forced them to stay open.

"Much better Light," L whispered, his grin increasing as Light actually _blushed_.

"What do –" Light began but fell silent as L pressed a finger to his lips. L ran his finger along Light's bottom lip slowly, feeling Light's ragged and warm breath waft over it.

L leaned forward then and replaced his finger with his mouth. Feeling Light jerk in response before relaxing into him; slowly he deepened the kiss. L was still surprised how easily Light was giving in to him. Perhaps there truly was more stress here than he had thought.

Suddenly Light shuddered in L's grasp; breaking the kiss to bury his head on L's shoulder; taking deep shuddering breaths.

"I did not realise my words would affect you so deeply," L sighed, holding Light tightly.

"Had to be said," Light gasped, "I only feel real around you, I seem to have acted and led my way around everyone else. I have been so fake."

For the first time in many, many years Light felt like he was going to cry.

"No not fake," L whispered, "just hidden; you did it to protect yourself. Don't feel guilty. I did not bring this up to make you feel guilt."

L was surprised when this calmed Light's breathing, his form relaxing in L's hold; suddenly Light became upright once more staring at L with a surprisingly critical expression.

"What do you expect of me?" Light whispered, worry etched in his eyes.

"Follow my commands without question, tell me the absolute truth and show me clearly what you are thinking," L said quietly, hurriedly adding when he saw the worry turn to consternation, "I do not expect you to follow my commands without question when dealing with anything connected to our role as Kira or when around others. Outside our personal relationship we are still equals, I would not take that from you."

"What else?" Light queried, he seemed deep in thought.

"Trust me," L whispered, "understand that I only want the best for you, to help you as much as I can. Stop second guessing everything I say, and realise that if you don't stop I _will_ punish you for it. Understand?"

"Don't I get a choice?" Light whispered, almost automatically.

At this L raised his hand and slipped a finger underneath the fabric of the collar, hooking it and pulling Light slightly forward, so that Light was no longer slightly taller than him.

"You have already made your choice Light," L said coolly, "so; do you understand what I expect from you?"

"Yes," Light said quietly, pausing only for a moment. He felt more secure about doing this knowing that it was not going to affect their 'professional lives'.

"Then take off your jacket and trousers and lie face down on the bed," L said calmly.

The look of shock that crossed Light's face at the order was a sight to behold. Despite this the younger man did as he'd been bidden, hesitating only once as he approached the bed.

L wasted no time in climbing onto the bed with Light, seating himself on the small of Light's back; his pose almost normal. He slowly ran his hands through Light's hair and down his back, before moving to slowly caress Light's arms. He felt the tension beginning to leave the body beneath him and smiled; finally Light was relaxing.

L moved his hands to Light's shoulders and slowly began to knead the flesh beneath his fingers; his movements slow and deliberate, his touch gentle. There was a happy sigh of contentment from Light as L slowly began to work further down Light's back; a small smile gracing his now peaceful features.

Light gave a small sound of discontentment as L shifted off him, but actually get a slight titter of happiness as L began to use his new position to massage further down Light's back and then his legs. L continued like this moving from caressing Light's head gently to his toes for well over ten minutes, before finally ceasing his movements.

"Light I need you to sit up now," L murmured kindly, running his fingers down Light's spine ever so gently.

Slowly Light forced his limbs into action, he was more relaxed in this moment than he thought he had ever been in his life. If this is what obeying L would bring then he would happily comply. He rested back contentedly onto L's chest as the former detective silently beckoned him over, his eyes closing now he no longer needed to move.

L's hands found one of his that lay languidly on the cover of the bed and slowly began to massage each finger in turn and then the palm, over and over the movements making all of Light's arm begin to feel extremely floppy. When L switched to Light's other hand Light's head lolled back to rest against L, his eyelids drooped and his eyes were unfocussed.

"Go to sleep Light," L whispered.

And Light did.

…

Light awoke, feeling the warmth of a blanket around his frame. As he came back to his senses he could hear the quiet sounds of typing followed by the sound of a pen scratching across paper. Grudgingly Light sat up, rubbing at his eyes sluggishly, groaning slightly at the dim light level in the room.

"How long have I been asleep?" Light whispered, slightly; coming to the dawning realisation that L had stayed to watch over him.

The typing instantly stopped, L turning to face him gracing Light with a smile.

"Two and a half hours Light. It is about 5pm now."

"But I had work to do," Light groaned.

"I decided otherwise, I have dealt with what was planned," L replied, "You have been trying to match my sleeping schedule for too long. You do not have the mental make-up suitable for only two or three hours of sleep a night. This will change from now on; or else you will put yourself in hospital."

Light opened his mouth to argue with L, automatically trying to defend his position, despite how untenable his position was. Then L raised his eyebrows and glanced at Light's neck. Light's eyes widened and he looked down at the blanket covering his legs; he wondered how he could have forgotten so easily. He forced himself to nod, to agree with L.

Light relaxed as he heard the typing resume, then let himself fall back onto the bed; L was right, he had to admit. He was tired. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept more than four hours in a night. He ignored L's quiet laughter as he fell backwards, he still felt very relaxed from L's magnificent massage.

"Thank you," Light said quietly.

The typing paused again then there was the sound of a chair moving backwards; then L's head appeared in his vision.

"What precisely for?" L queried, as he sat next to Light on the bed; he was genuinely intrigued. Light was accepting this far better than L ever thought he would, but then, Light _always_ was good at adapting to new situations.

"The massage," Light replied, "I'm not about to say thank you for a collar!"

"Not yet anyway," L whispered in Light's ear.

…

Near looked over the most recent set of reports, stifling his slight sigh of displeasure over the lack of progress they were making. Theoretically, cases should be straightforward to complete when you knew the name of the perpetrator. However when it seemed that every one of the world's governments was bowing to Kira, and, even worse, Kira's rule was _working._ Well, then you didn't have a case at all, what you had was a rebel organisation. If he won he would be a hero, a freedom fighter, if he didn't he was terrorist.

He knew they had to change their tactics. They could no longer continue as an investigative group; they would instead have to start drawing people towards them, people who also wanted Kira's removal. The problem, well _one_ of the problems, Near had with this was that he would have to associate with criminals at some point. Though if Mello could do it, so could he.

He'd voiced this plan to the others the day before, and asked them to discuss it on their own. He didn't want to influence their decision; they would be threatening their vital isolation. They would all be at risk from Kira once more. The risk of Kira attacking them again was quite small all things considered. If he knew their names and faces they would be dead. He wouldn't leave them here to operate against him.

Near glanced up from the numerous screens at Gevanni.

"Have you come to a decision?" Near asked, his voice low.

"We have," Gevanni replied, "we are with you all the way. We want Kira stopped and this is the only way. What is our next move?"

"Two people have to travel to Japan and quietly seek supporters," Near replied, "Talk to the people disaffected by Kira's 'environmental' policies and those removed from positions of power because of the lack of leniency to people with criminal records of any sort; speeding tickets and the like. Try and find any links to the criminal underworld as well, though who ever goes needs to be careful. Any routes that exist will be difficult to find, and they are likely to be paranoid to the level of shot first ask questions after."

"Understood," Gevanni said, "we all have military experience, we know how to handle ourselves."

"I know," Near commented, "Thank you for believing in me."

"The fact that Kira attacked you directly when you began to investigate him shows that you must be quite dangerous to him; that was enough proof for us to know we should stick with you."

Gevanni turned to leave; Near looked over a row of three pictures that glowed and flickered before him.

"Kira has family in Japan as well," Near said slowly, "perhaps if someone carefully approaches them. I know his own father is against him, he worked alongside L to catch Kira, his own son. I don't think it likely he knows. His family may be worth contacting, the likelihood is that they do not know of the evil creature their son has become."

"I will make sure that who ever chooses to go knows that information," Gevanni replied.

Once he had left, Terry Scott emerged from the shadows.

"What would you have me do?" Terry asked.

"I need you to go in search of Matt and Mello," Near said, looking up at his associate, "I will need their help, I believe that I am about to take the same route they have taken. I think I need Mello's advice."

"Do you wish me to tell him that?" Terry said smiling, Near had told him about Mello, and of Mello's dislike for Near.

"Yes, it will soothe his ego. I want us to work together as equals on this," Near said resting his head on his knee, "it is way past the time for us to be squabbling like children; too much is at stake."

* * *


	16. Chapter 16

A/N; Here is chapter 16 of Low Light, I apologise for the slight delay, but it was unavoidable.

I also apologise for so much focus on an OC, I am sorry to do this, but I assure you it is completely necessary. So I only ask that you bare with me!

Beta'd by VirtualDraconium who pointed out my recent obsession with the word 'quite', at least it makes a change from my previous obsession 'then'. Thank you!

...

Please read and review. I really do appreciate knowing what people think!

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Shocks and Surprises

The sun was already setting as Terry Scott stepped off the plane. He had finally arrived back in Britain after two months away serving Near. He felt rather apprehensive about leaving Near alone, but Gevanni was still there, so the risk was minimal, Rester was also staying to watch over the young man. All three of them were still concerned over the way Kira's disgusting message had effected Near.

He sighed as he moved through baggage handling and customs, eventually emerging into the dim winter light as, right on time, the car from the organisation pulled up. They were the last remnants, the only ones left of the group Wammy had first set up to work as L's information system. They were the great unknowns; there had once been over a hundred of them, but Kira had removed all but four of them. They still didn't know quite why they were still alive; their only probable explanation being that Kira did not know their names. Why else would they be alive?

"Did you find any clues?" Terry asked, as he reclined in the back of the car.

"Yes, it seemed they did not search after the identity of Kira as was believed," the driver replied, "they began to travel after one of the other Wammy's House residents, a girl called Linda; it appeared they didn't believe her death to be as clean cut as was officially thought. We were able to trace their paper trail from Paris to Barcelona to Prague. After that nothing; it's as if they vanished into thin air. I've never seen a trail vanish so completely before, even with L it was possible to find a whisper about his location."

"That was due to his cases, you know that," Terry commented, "In this case there's likely to be no need to come into the public eye. I was warned this would be difficult, I just didn't anticipate they had been trained so well, an oversight of some magnitude."

"What do you plan to do?"

"I shall follow their paper trail; they may have left some evidence behind. I won't be in the country long."

"Good, as I have some alarming news for you. The British Government is in 'negotiations' with Kira. In a week's time Britain will also be under the rule of Kira, if you are in the country after that point, I doubt you will be leaving."

"I see. I did not expect them to do such a thing."

"The supporters of Kira may be fewer in number here than elsewhere, but they are quite forceful in their persuasions," the driver said quietly, "the country was being annexed, isolated from all others as Kira ordered them to cut off fuel supplies, and imports. The country nearly collapsed."

"Then they had no choice, the survival of the majority would have been their priority, then. To think the bastion of freedom would be destroyed by something, someone, as vile as Kira…" Terry trailed off; the thought of his homeland being ruled over by a murderer depressed him.

"I know; it's a terrifying thought."

…

The UK had certainly taken quite the political beating at the hands of Kira. The price of fuel had rocketed to a ridiculous price, and as a result there were hardly any cars on the road. There had even been talk of bringing in a rationing system on the food still in the country; imports of food had been one of the first things to fail, not in delivery, but in price and quality.

The people looked downtrodden, Terry realised as they drove through the streets of London. These were the people who had grown up without a Death Penalty as part of their laws, and now they would have the Death Penalty enforced for all crimes. It was heartbreaking.

…

A few hours into his investigation the following day, Terry was extremely irritated. Not only were the documents found incredibly burnt and fragile, but the information contained was only a list of school grades and a partial address in Prague, the last place the two miscreants had visited before they vanished off the face of the planet. There truly was next to nothing he could do in Britain, he wondered whether there truly was a reason he had come back. He was losing _too much_ time.

Terry decided to leave for Paris. He had a sneaking suspicion, if some of the slight records he had found were anything to go by, that Matt and Mello were the one's responsible for the strangest bank heist the world had ever known. The bank heist where the bank is broken into, but _nothing_ is stolen; it seemed their style.

Unfortunately he would once again be venturing into Kira controlled territory, and from what he could tell from his short time in America, Kira was gradually moving from cult figure, to World Leader and even to _God_ in many people's minds. It was something that could only accelerate as more countries fell, and something that could only mean trouble for the people who did not side with Kira. Terry was afraid for the first time in his life, truly and utterly afraid.

…

Light sighed softly, he was beginning to regret putting the collar on, not because of what the collar meant, but because it was so _visible._ All the way through the first meeting with his council in the nice new meeting room, he'd barely been able to concentrate; he'd felt the collar around his neck for every second of it. The fabric seemed to burn into his neck. He was paranoid that people would see it, the fabric was black after all, so even in the stifling heat of the room he had kept both his shirt and his jacket perfectly buttoned up.

Despite this Matsuda had assured him the meeting had gone perfectly, he had responded just as fluently as normal and had held everyone in the palm of his hand. They had listened, enthralled, to his plans and had left immediately to their new offices to work, all seemingly elated with the way things were progressing. So at least he didn't have the meeting to worry about.

He went in search of L; he needed to ask L about the collar. He knew that if he just removed the collar, L's punishment would be swift and likely to be something Light would not forget for years to come. Light seriously didn't want to have a practical demonstration. He blinked as he realised he was completely acceptant of following L's instructions; just taking it off and ignoring L hadn't occurred to him.

He had another meeting this afternoon, so this was something that needed dealing with soon. He would not sit through another meeting like this again. Light was completely oblivious to the nervous tension and panic building up within him as he contemplated confronting L.

…

L was sat rather contentedly eating a large slice of cheesecake, when Light burst into the room, pulling the mask from his face, his hand obviously shaking. Something was evidently bothering him; L didn't recall seeing anything untoward occur in the meeting. L sat there quite stupefied as Light approached him, his stride still emanating his usual pride, but there were definitely cracks in it.

"Light what is it?" L asked, keeping his voice calm.

Then Light truly shocked him; he dropped to his knees in front of L, with his head bowed.

"I can't concentrate in meetings with the collar around my neck," Light said hurriedly, his voice muffled by his position, "can't I at least take it off for meetings? Please L?"

L ran a hand soothingly through Light's hair, keeping his movement gentle. He wondered at just how submissive Light had become, this was completely unexpected. After only 48 hours of adjustment Light had begun to look to L. He had expected it to take at least a week.

"Light, look at me," L said kindly, then smiled as Light's worried face looked up at him, "I told you that this would not affect the time outside our personal relationship. This is obviously outside the boundaries, why would you think I would be upset? Though I am honoured you thought of me and came to see me before you took it off."

To his surprised instead of looking relieved Light just frowned.

"I don't _want_ to take it off," Light mumbled.

"I see," L sighed, then looked thoughtful, "I think we can find a solution."

L reached forward then and carefully undid the clasp of the collar, feeling Light swallow nervously as he did this. Quickly L grabbed one of Light's wrists, pulled the glove off with his teeth as he found out he had run out of hands, and twined the collar around Light's wrist before securing the clasp. Then he carefully slid the glove on Light's unresisting hand.

He looked back at Light's face and bit back a laugh at the expression of embarrassment on Light's face.

"I really should have thought of that shouldn't I?" Light murmured, not looking at L. He couldn't believe he hadn't, or that he was on his knees in front of L entirely voluntarily.

"You wanted my opinion and you didn't want to disappoint me," L stated, "I do not see what you should be embarrassed about."

"I am _kneeling_ in front of you," Light whispered, "that's embarrassing."

Light made a move to stand up, but L's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"No, Light. Stay where you are," L said firmly, "you are staying put till you are no longer embarrassed."

Light's eyes widened at the order and he seriously thought about just standing up, he just _couldn't_ stay kneeling. It appeared L had sensed his growing confusion as the hand was back on the top of his head and L was gazing at him kindly. Light couldn't take it and he let his head fall forward to rest against L's legs; though the hand remained, fingers playing with his hair.

L smiled as Light finally relaxed against him and pulled away, raising a hand to rub against the collar wrapped around the opposite wrist. As L picked up his cake to resume decimating it with his fork, Light decided to watch him and knelt there watching L's every movement.

"Can I stop kneeling now?" Light asked suddenly.

"Why?"

"My feet have gone to sleep," Light murmured, smiling slightly, after an amused affirmative from L he moved back slightly to sit on the floor, gratefully bring his feet forward, staring at the offending limbs in annoyance. L just smiled down at Light; ever since he had told Light to show him all his emotions Light's face had become extremely animated.

Even when his feet had 'awoken' Light still made no move to stand up. Instead he sat there, resting back on his hands, discussing the fate of the world with L, particularly their successful and swift annexation of the United Kingdom. Light could understand why L would want his homeland under his rule; and 'rule' it truly was.

Every country they now 'oversaw' was asking them, well Kira, for advice and solutions to their problems. Either out of fear of moving against Kira's wishes, or out of growing adoration, they were gradually gaining governmental control over the world. L and Light began to wonder if they could have people yearn for them to act, to beg them and to cry out to them in worship. In their eyes, the gleam of having total power over the world shone brightly.

…

Terry took one final look out of the airplane window as he left the UK, he felt he no longer knew what his homeland had become, and he had the sinking feeling he would not be returning. Of course he did not have a reason to any more. L's secret spy ring, secret even from L himself, had effectively disbanded; he was the only one still active. The only one willing to fight against Kira, the others wished only to survive.

When he landed, he truly had his first experience of the rapidly growing Church of Kira; he had never expected to see it in Paris though. There, stretching the full length of the airport was a wall, which was covered with pinned up prayers for Kira, gifts and pleas. There was photo after photo of unpunished criminals scattered through the letters, even here the people were turning towards Kira. Terry wondered if these were sent to Kira; he considered it likely, what better way would there to be to cement your power than to prove it so absolutely. He realised that everywhere there were posters proclaiming to Kira, he moved over to read one. Kira was indeed being hailed as a God; these posters were for the Church of Kira.

In morbid interest he picked up a leaflet. Then had to stifle a gasp, this church was ordained by Kira himself. Then when he looked at the programme of services he felt sick.

* * *


	17. Chapter 17

A/N; Sorry it has taken me so long to update this story. I hope you can forgive me!

I hope you enjoy this chapter despite the content, and rest assured no OC will be getting POV screen time again! I had to do it from Terry Scott's POV last time, but not again. I am glad none of you hated me for that.

Oh and I will not be doing a recap chapter for this story, you have told me you don't need it and so I won't do it.

Beta'd by VirtualDraconium, as always her help is greatly appreciated.

If any of you have any one-shot story ideas you would like me to write, or any comments about my stories or the DNverse in general feel free to visit my forum and leave a message! I need one-shot ideas as mine try and develop into multi-chapter stories…. Not good, I have too many on the go as it is at the moment.

I shall shut up now.

Please read and review!

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Chapter 17

Near looked over the data Terry Scott had sent him, it was sickening. He'd never believed that Kira would go this far, it did indeed seem Kira was the instigator behind his own church and all its services. The sporadic and disorganised cults that had begun to spring up around the world had been merged swiftly into one cohesive whole. It was unnerving just how quickly Kira had managed it, Near felt a little worrying, sliver of doubt worm it's way through his mind. Could Kira truly be Light Yagami? A relatively unknown man from Japan who as far as Near had been able to determine had absolutely no links to places of power besides his father?

Near sighed and turned back to the task in hand, it was evident that it _was_ Light Yagami. How he had managed this was merely a secondary puzzle, one that would be easily solved once he had managed to apprehend the man. By solving one he would solve the other; that at least appeased part of his mind.

Near truly understood why Terry had felt disgusted by the Church of Kira, the services were very Draconian. Some were of course the usual sermon type meetings many religions included, others though involved the naming and shaming of people who had broken the law but not enough to warrant Kira's action, they would then be punished by that particular church group in what ever way they sort fit. That was bad in itself; it was sanctioning vigilante action and abuse of another in the name of the law, but that was nothing compared to the weekly sermon all churches had; a naming and shaming of those criminals who _did_ warrant Kira's action. It was this one service that made even Near feel sick.

The criminals would be lined up at the front of the largest meeting hall in the country and in front of the whole congregation, a congregation which included _children_; Kira would pass his judgement on them. It seemed Kira wanted to send a very public message of his power. It was terrible.

The worrying thing was more and more people were flocking to these meetings, and if Terry's information had been corrected no-one was forced to go, no ostracizing of non-attendees was practiced. Kira himself had given a broadcast saying people should only attend if they truly wished to; he did not want to make the innocent people of the world feel as though they had been imprisoned. Near had sneered at this, the criminals who attended were not given a choice, not even the ones who were just named and shamed. It was likely that people would soon be forced to attend, but Kira was still worried about reprisals. It was the people who had turned to him all those weeks ago after all; he needed to keep their favour.

Near decided that he had read enough bad news for now and turned to the report from Japan, on how forming a resistance was progressing. The news was good; it had not taken long for Halle Lidner and Rester to find whispers of an already forming resistance. It may have hidden well, but Lidner and Rester were better. After a week in Japan they had found and contacted the leaders of three small resistance groups. There were only fifty people when all three groups were combined, but it was a start; to have anyone at all was a miracle. Near had been worried that there would have been none at all.

However things were going to get more difficult as Lidner was now to go after Light Yagami's family and try and question them about their involvement. Near was hopeful that the father at least would be with him; from L's notes it seemed the man had great integrity and possessed a need to see justice served, no matter who the criminal was. He had allowed L to bug his entire house after all, even though it had meant his wife and daughter would be under observation.

Near allowed himself to hope, and he only ever allowed himself to hope when he was certain he was right, that he was close to apprehending Kira; if he could get just one family member to help, he could ensnare Kira. All he had to do was remove Kira and the world would quickly go back to normal, the world would recover from this madness. Near was sure of it.

He reached out suddenly and flicked a white domino that stood before him, a small gasp sounded from next to him; the room was quickly filled with the sound of domino after domino toppling over. The dominoes curved and twisted across the floor before him a white N just discernable on the equally white tiles. He smiled as he heard Gevanni clap slightly in happiness; it had been a team effort…

…

Three weeks later….

…

Matt was now certain that he and Mello were being traced. He had backtracked over the suspicious man's movements and they matched too perfectly. The idiot hadn't even tried to hide his tracks. Matt snorted in condescension; to be tracked by such a lightweight was almost an insult to the genius hacker.

"Oi, Mello," Matt called, "we have a potential problem."

"Tch," Mello responded, he sounded annoyed, "what is it?"

Mello had good reason to sound annoyed, he was playing chess with Matsuda and he was actually beginning to worry that he might _lose_, he could handle losing to Matt, but to Matsuda?!

"A guy called Terry Scott, he hasn't even tried to use a fake ID," Matt explained hurriedly, "has been following what remained of our paper trail across Europe, I think he's looking for us. I suspect he works for Near."

Mello nodded, taking another bite at his chocolate as he thought it over.

"This is one of those times you would like us to use discretion isn't it," Mello sighed, flopping back over the chair, "let's go tell L and Light then."

Matt was intensely relieved about Mello's reply, it seemed the blonde haired man had been getting more and more cautious about what the two of them did the longer they were around L and Light. It was almost as if Mello was worried about something or scared, that was if Matt ever thought Mello was scared of anything. Matt knew Mello too well to ever think that.

"Yo L," Mello called as they entered the main room, L was curled up in a chair watching one of the many meetings that occurred.

"Hello Mello," L responded not looking up from the screen in front of him.

"We think we might have a problem," Mello said hurriedly.

"What sort of problem?" L asked, this time looking up at who had entered, he nodded a greeting at Matt and Matsuda.

"A man called Terry Scott has been tracing what remains of our paper trail here, he's being quite obvious about it, but he is getting closer to us," Matt interjected before Mello had a chance to respond, "I believe he is looking for us and wants us to know it."

"I suspect Near is behind this, he doesn't have many resources left to him, I expect he would want your help," L commented.

"What do you think we should do about him?" Mello asked, flopping down onto a sofa, pulling Matt down with him.

"Let him find you," L replied, turning back to the screen.

"What?" Matt gasped.

"It would be good to know what Near is up to now that he has vanished, and this way we will gain a way to send a message to Near should we need to," L said blandly.

"How hard do you want me to make the paper trail now?" Matt asked.

"Only deviously difficult, if he managed to track what little you left behind anything less would be suspicious," L replied.

Matt laughed at L's choice of description, L always made jokes if you knew where to look.

"I'll get started on it right away," Matt responded once he had recovered, "setting up that much is going to take time."

…

Near had been right about Soichiro Yagami not knowing his son was Kira, and his dislike in Kira's methods; from what Halle Lidner could discover, his hatred had only intensified after what had been done to L and the team. It seemed that if done carefully, Near would acquire an extremely stalwart supporter. The only problem Halle now faced was in ingratiating herself with the family without endangering herself.

Two days later Halle Lidner found herself a teacher at Sayu Yagami's school; no matter how hard she had protested that she couldn't teach, Near had still insisted that this was the only way. It seemed she was doomed with the hateful task of trying to become friends with a pupil. She was going to kill Near for this after Kira had been captured.

* * *

A/N; I am sorry it is so short, I promise the next chapter will be longer and will arrive sooner than this one did.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N; I fail at this story, I know I do. I just can't seem to get this one moving how I like at all, and my other stories, particularly Constant Temptation, consume so much more of my time. I hope you can forgive me for it, but if you know of Constant Temptation then you know just _why_ it takes priority.

My thanks to VirtualDraconium for beta'ing this chapter so quickly for me. The turn around on this chapter was staggering for the work I know she puts into it when she does them.

I would ask for reviews, but it seems rude to ask when it has been this chapter has been waited for by many of you for so long.

I can only hope that you read and enjoy!

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Chapter 18

Six months had passed, and the 'big picture'; the state of the world, had changed very little. A plateau had been reached with the Church of Kira, and now only the normal level of joining and leaving people were being noticed. For there were people leaving the church, people who no longer attended and continued on living happy lives, no punishment seemed to be meted out to people who had chosen to leave.

But then, as L and Light sometimes commented, often with a strange smile on their faces, they were extremely busy doing more worthwhile things than punishing the general public. For there had been a gradual shift in Kira's activities in public; leader of Japan yes, 'aide' to most of the countries in the world yes; but now also a form of advisor to the UN, almost as though the control of the countries that now bowed to them was shifting to a central location. Best of all in L and Light's minds was that they had needed to do nothing. They, well Light as Kira, had been invited to attend and give his opinion on several matters. It was amazing how many Bills were passed in such a short space of time, not many countries seemed willing to argue with Kira's opinion on the table for discussion.

On a lighter note, Ryuk still didn't know that the allergy to apples was all a ruse by the Shinigami King; most of the time he couldn't leave the room in which he had ensconced himself, bobbing along by the ceiling almost pale from the loss of his beloved apples. L and Light knew though that it wouldn't be long until he gorged himself, the consequences be damned.

…

With Mello and Matt things were slightly different, and much more intense than they had been in the past, for they were now in discussion with Terry Scott for a meeting. They had to tread carefully, as, from some of the things Terry had been saying, Near was definite suspicious that they _were_ working with Kira, but he was still unsure as to why. Mello and Matt though were good at what they did, and what _Mello_ was extremely good at was being a scam artist. Mello could blag, cajole and convince people to believe he was what he said he was, and that what he said was true, and Matt had the technical skills to get Mello what he needed and to give them anything they would ever need. It was a perfectly terrible pairing, for others at least, had they wanted to go into crime.

So Near believed that they were _not_ actually working for Kira, that what he had presumed to be their pretentious help to Kira to allow him to seize power had just been paranoia on his part. Mello and Matt had told Near that they were trying to undermine Kira in Japan where he was based, but it was difficult because of the level of fear and that, though there were supporters to their cause of his removal, they were unwilling to take any direct action. When someone could kill as easily as Kira, and when that someone had so much support from the general populace, it was obvious as to why people didn't want to rush in to anything and instead wanted to preserve their own life and the lives of their families. Near had understood, and vaguely mentioned having the same difficulties with people he had contacted, the amount of talking such people did without ever wanting to _do_ anything.

They had yet to meet with Terry face to face. Near hadn't given them that. So the final stage of L and Light's plan had yet to go into operation, but they were patient people. They could wait. Having Near, no, _Nate River_, as the main figurehead of the 'rebellion' was a good thing in their opinion. The main leader would have all the information about the rest of the operation, and if things went on too long, surely they could just remove him and gain all that information by writing his death efficiently. They didn't want to do that though, well, L didn't want to do that, there was something anticlimactic to a victory of that sort, he had said, he wanted Near to know that he had lost before he died. Light thought that was slightly cruel, but he could understand the thinking, and he knew that it would be good for them too to have a defined moment when they knew they had won.

So Matt and Mello were still pressing hard for a meeting; stressing how important it was for them to _know _Near wanted to work _with_ them, not just use them for information. With Mello's attitude towards Near this was fairly easy to pretend, though Matt sometimes thought Mello didn't need to pretend at all.

Finally, they heard the news that Terry Scott had arrived in Japan. This could only mean that a meeting was imminent and their plan could move forward once more. Matt was never so relieved to hear of someone arriving in the country, the waiting game had gone on for so long he had thought Mello would explode from all the ranting he did. It hadn't been a pleasant experience for Matt to deal with an angry Mello so frequently.

Of course though, no one at Kira's headquarters knew of Halle Lidner and her currently developing association with the Yagami household. Light really should have kept in better contact with his family…

…

Halle found herself smiling as Sayu bounded into the empty classroom where she was marking essays. She couldn't resist waving in return as Sayu waved in greeting before approaching.

"Lidner-sensei!" Sayu said happily, "How are you today?"

"Sayu-chan, you're in early today," Halle said in return, before adding, "I am very well today, and you?"

"I'll be very happy if you accept this invitation from my parents," Sayu replied with a small laugh, before bowing and handing over a letter.

"That was very formal of you Sayu-chan," Halle commented, as she opened the letter. She grinned as she read the note; only the Yagami's would send a letter to invite someone round for dinner. She had met Sayu's parents once before at Parent-Teacher day and they had got on well, but this would be the first time she would be able to talk with the privately. This was a huge step forward for the case, and from a personal point of view. She found she actually _liked_ Sayu, she was such a happy teenager, always smiling and incredibly clever. Intelligence must run in the family, she thought, but at least with Sayu it came tempered with empathy and the joy of just being social with people, Halle doubted that Light Yagami was empathic with anyone or enjoyed being social; no one like that could possibly do the things he had done. At least she hoped not.

"Sensei?" Sayu asked, and Halle blinked as a hand waved in front of her face.

"Ah, sorry Sayu-chan, I was miles away for a moment there," Halle said with a sudden laugh, "Of course, I'd love to come round for dinner, it will be nice to talk to your parents again."

"At least you won't have anything bad to say about my class work," Sayu laughed and beamed at her happily, "Have a good day Sensei!"

"You too Sayu-chan," Halle said quietly as Sayu nearly ran out of the classroom again, one hand digging into her bag to find her mobile. She had to be quick back to class, she might have been in early but it was nearly time for registration.

Halle knew that she could only have become friends with Sayu because she was teaching Sayu's favourite subject, how that had happened she did not know. The only explanation could be Near, and if he knew that sort of information it showed just how good at his job he was. Halle didn't know whether to be amazed; or concerned for the breach of privacy that must have occurred to gain the information… but desperate times called for desperate measures and you couldn't get more desperate than Kira gaining power round the globe.

With a small sigh she reached into her bag for her own mobile. Near would want to know of developments.

…

"Thank you for informing me of this," Near said in his usual, almost expressionless, tone, "I take it you have nothing hindering you from attending this meeting?"

"I have already agreed to go," Halle replied, she couldn't think of why Near would think she wouldn't go. Sometimes Near was not able to read between the lines at all. She supposed it was part of his inability to judge people well.

"Thank you for doing this Halle," Near said suddenly, his voice carrying more emotion, even down the phone line, "I know this can't be easy on you, your continued efforts in this case are invaluable."

"Thank you sir," Halle murmured, she felt guilt run through her like a blade for her bad thoughts about Near, he didn't deserve it she knew. Perhaps she had just been living undercover for too long. She was on edge about everything and everyone; it wasn't a good way to behave. She took a deep breath to settle herself.

"Good luck tonight," Near said suddenly, and the phone line went dead.

…

Light sighed as he was interrupted in his current activities with L by the ringing of his mobile, and his head turned in the direction of the noise, a small frown appearing on his face. He wasn't in any position to answer it at the moment he knew, it wasn't as if L was going to release his hands from their current position.

Light heard L laugh, and the once-detective was rifling through the nightstand for the offending device.

"You should have turned this off Light," L murmured, as he turned back, waving the still ringing device as he approached.

"It's the only way for my family to contact me I-" Light began, but stopped as L looked at him critically. By not turning it off he had disobeyed a direct order from L that afternoon, the collar around his neck suddenly felt incredibly tight and he hung his head, his guilt feeling worse as the mobile continued to ring.

Suddenly the noise cut off and Light jerked his head up in surprise before the mobile was pressed to his ear. L gave him a kind smile, as he shifted to crouch next to Light.

"Hello," Light said, his voice thankfully betraying none of his emotional turmoil.

"Hello Light."

Light blinked at the sound of his father's voice he sounded much happier, even from those two words than he had in a while. Things must have been improving for him, or he had found something to occupy his time.

"Light," his father continued, "Can you come round for dinner tonight? We haven't seen you in a while and it would be nice to have your company. Your mother misses you."

Light knew what that meant, it really meant that his father missed him and wanted his company; Light couldn't help smiling he had been away from home for too long, he should visit more he knew, but he could never find the time what with L and all his growing responsibilities.

"I'll just need to check," Light said in reply, and L astute as always covered the microphone of the mobile with one hand and drew it away from Light.

"What is it?" L whispered in Light's ear, his voice barely audible even across that short distance.

Light told him, equally as quietly.

"You can go," L replied, still whispering as quietly as he dared.

Light smiled up at L as the phone was returned to his ear.

"I can come," Light said happily into the phone, "what time do you want me?"

Light grinned as his double entendre made the phone shift suddenly against his ear; it seemed L had caught the hidden meaning. He might have let himself become submissive to L in private away from work, but he was in no way cowed.

"Any time you are able, though your mother says the food will be finished by seven, so if you are later than that you will have to explain to her."

Light laughed, he knew the threat was an empty one; his mother would have been happy if he had arrived at midnight.

"I'll see you later then. Goodbye father," Light said, still smiling.

"Goodbye Light," Soichiro replied and there was the sound of a phone being replaced before the line went dead.

Light gulped as L turned the phone off and threw it onto the desk nearby, the look in his eyes had become dangerous.

"You disobeyed me Light," L said softly, "You know what happens now."

L chuckled as Light swallowed audibly, he knew Light never viewed what he did as any form of punishment. No matter what he did to him Light always seemed appreciative.

"Thank you," Light whispered as L crouched down in front of him, the evil glint in L's eyes making his heart race.

"No need to thank me Light, you aren't in a position to answer it yourself are you," L laughed and he patted Light on the head.

* * *


End file.
